Priorities for data gathering
The SBRC will
either hold, or have access to, all datasets relating to biological recording
in Suffolk. This includes information on species, sites and habitats as well as
contextual data about the natural environment such as soils, geology, climate,
history of land use etc. There will be an emphasis on new up-to-date
information with particular attention to monitoring populations of declining
taxa.
Where possible such
data will be stored using the Recorder 2000 database or interfaced with it
using software such as GIS mapping.
New survey work will not be undertaken directly by Records Centre Staff,
except in their own time. However, the Records Centre will encourage recorders
and organisations to improve knowledge of the wildlife of the County and to try
and keep existing datasets up-to-date. Priority will be given to surveys that add to our knowledge of BAP
species and habitats. Where possible efforts will be made
to allow public participation in surveys. Details of priorities for particular
taxonomic groups are to be found in the section on species based data.
The SBRC will
undertake ‘gap analysis’ at a variety to scales to
further focus recording. This might be to identify taxonomic groups that have not been looked at in a particular site or at a county
scale to pick out under-recorded areas in surveys.
Priorities for computerisation of data
For external
computer datasets acquired electronically it will
normally be the whole dataset that is captured. For paper datasets
priorities will need to be determined both between datasets and within them.
For example it may be appropriate to extract records
of only a small selection of species from a large dataset. Possible criteria
may include age of data, data quality, species status and habitat status.
BAP species and
habitats will also drive priorities for paper datasets, but other rarity
categories may also be applied. These may vary from group to group but might
include Red Data Book status, local character species and habitat quality
indicators. With taxonomic groups where there is a large volume of data, we
will initially concentrate on recent (post-1980) data. Older records may also
be input for species that are known to have undergone
significant changes in frequency or range.
For site-based
records, priorities will be to get complete coverage of information on SSSIs and County Wildlife Sites. For habitat (biotope)
records there may be problems of compatibility, preference will
be given to data collected using NVC methodology.
Site definition
Although many
sites are defined externally to the Records Centre (e.g. statutory and
non-statutory nature conservation sites), others are defined by the Records
Centre usually using criteria based on recording convenience. The complex
geographical relationships between these sites and the various geo-referencing
systems used in biological recording, as well as means of handling such
complexity through the GIS system and database are carefully controlled. The
SBRC has developed a series of ‘vague sites’ covering all parishes in the
County. Many other sites have been defined through
Phase II surveys and other detailed recording. It is also policy not to create
‘one-off’ sites for very small numbers of records; these are dealt with using
parishes and can be re-assigned to a precise site if and when
the need arises. All designated sites (NNR, SSSI, CWS etc.) will
be attached to polygons within the GIS. Where possible all other sites
will also have defined boundaries and will not overlap. There are also options
for defining linear sites to cover features such as protected roadside verges
and river systems.
Habitat
classification systems
Means of handling
data collected in the various habitat classification systems in use within partner
organisations will need to be developed. The Records Centre should have a
policy on whether it seeks to influence the habitat classification systems used
in order to provide a better service to users. This is an
area that the Steering Group needs to review on a regular basis. At
present the data for Suffolk is very patchy and has been collected using a
variety of different classification systems. It is important that collection of
this type of information recognises the dynamic nature of many habitats and
that any attempts to collect habitat data across the whole county employ a
methodology that achieves coverage in a relatively short timescale. Work on
mapping habitats as part of the Lifescapes Project
will be developing further protocols in this area.
Data
Entry protocols
The Records Centre
has developed protocols for capturing sites, habitats, species, personnel and
events data to databases and these will be extended to
the Mapinfo GIS system. These protocols include
minimum data standards for such records as well as guidance on required
accuracy for spatial references and techniques for validation. Training is given to people doing data entry on remote sites, such as
field computers and species group satellites. These protocols will change
considerably with the move to the new Recorder 2000 system.
Voucher specimen
collecting and maintenance
Records Centre staff, recorders and experts are able to refer to
collections of voucher specimens and relevant literature in Ipswich Museum in
order to confirm identifications. The Museum will be expected
to maintain such collections and provide reasonable access for researchers on
request. For some groups which are currently not well-represented in the
collections there is scope for reciprocal arrangements in which recorders
collect new material and the Museum helps with storage and supplies of tubes,
alcohol etc.
Meta-data
A comprehensive metadatabase describing all existing datasets held by the
Records Centre has been compiled as part of the
process of transferring records to the Recorder 2000 (R2K) format. This will be extended to cover other datasets containing
biological data relating to Suffolk, which are held elsewhere. This metadatabase will be updated on an
annual basis and where appropriate efforts made to transfer external datasets
to the R2K format. The policy for making this metadatabase
accessible via the National Biodiversity Network and the World Wide Web is covered below.
Relationship with
the NBN gateway and the internet
As the NBN gateway
evolves guidance will be needed on what level of
detail should be made available on the internet for each of the datasets held
by the Records Centre. As well as issues of confidentiality, the effect of
providing free access to information on the ability to charge for data
extraction should be considered. This is a rapidly changing
area of the NBN and the Steering Group will keep a watching brief rather than
fix a rigid policy at this stage.
Security
Data: An important
function of a Records Centre is to keep records safe for future use. The
long-term survival of records entrusted to SBRC is ensured
through protection of both paper and computer systems. The physical security of
the data collections are covered by the Museum’s theft
and fire protection schemes. Unauthorised access to computer systems is prevented by password protection on all computers on the
network. Regular backups of important data are made
using ‘Zip’ disks with a copy of the database being stored off site as a
precaution against fire and theft.
Building: Security
locks on internal doors protect unauthorised access to the SBRC Office. The
Museum also has a series of movement alarms that protect against theft when the
building is not open.
Quality Assurance
SBRC
seeks to maintain the highest standards in biological survey, data management
and analysis for its users. It has developed a number of policies, protocols
and procedures to ensure consistent delivery of these high standards. These are described below.
Management
structure
The
SBRC Management Group sets policies for SBRC for implementation by staff. It
comprises SBRC’s users who are encouraged to comment
on quality of service so that issues can be foreseen and
addressed.
Personnel
expertise & recruitment
Expertise,
skills and experience are used as the key criteria in
the recruitment of all staff, trainees and in-house volunteers. Senior staff are expected to have a broad experience of ecological
survey and data management. In-house trainees and long-term volunteers are expected to have a relevant scientific degree.
Contractors are vetted to ensure that they have
sufficient relevant experience to undertake the tasks required in the contract
in a thorough and competent manner.
SBRC
supports several Specialist Species Groups in the county, which between them
cover most taxa. SBRC encourages naturalists to join these groups and gives
support for meetings and training workshops, developing standard recording
cards and providing guidance for standards in aspects such as geographical
accuracy in species recording.
Training
All
in-house staff, trainees and long-term volunteers are given
full training in data management before undertaking work in these areas on
behalf of SBRC. Staff have a system of regular
performance appraisal and are encouraged to attend professional training courses.
External
quality assurance processes
SBRC
has a significant role in the development of standards in biological recording
through the emerging National Biodiversity Network, which comprises a partnership
of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the Natural Environment Research
Council, the Natural History Museum, the Wildlife Trusts and the National
Federation of Biological Recording. This process is expected
to lead within a few years to Accreditation of Local Records Centres - SBRC
expects to be accredited at the highest standard at an early date.
Geographical
Accuracy of Site Boundaries
Site
boundaries held in the SBRC manual files will be drawn on base maps at a scale
of 1:10000 or greater. This does not apply to statutory sites, where the scale
is as drawn by the statutory agency responsible. Site boundaries are captured to the GIS at a digitizing scale of 1:10000,
where appropriate, or greater. The mapping base used in the SBRC GIS is
currently Ordnance Survey.
Recorder
Software
SBRC
uses the Recorder biological recording software, as developed by the statutory
agencies and others. This in itself is a national standard, in three respects:
Nomenclature:
the species dictionary is centrally maintained,
ensuring the correct nomenclature is used, and species names are spelt
consistently and correctly.
Species
status: the national and international statuses of species are
centrally maintained, allowing SBRC to report accurately on the national
and international status of species recorded in Suffolk.
Grid
reference validation: the software has an internal check on grid reference at
data entry, preventing any gross geographical errors in grid reference
allocation.
SBRC
has developed a detailed data entry protocol for the entry of sites, habitat,
species, personnel, literature and event data onto the
Recorder database. The protocol includes minimum standards for valid records.
If source data fails to meet the minimum standard it is not entered.
Verification
of species records
For
species records, identification of species is verified
by the SBRC [staff member] as far as is possible. Professional judgement is used to assess the probable accuracy of records. Only a
proportion of records is assessed, with priority given
to records of rare species. If any doubt is expressed as to the accuracy of a
record of a rare species, the record is referred to an expert in the taxonomic
group concerned (e.g. the County Recorder, national recorder, Natural History
Museum or Kew Gardens), for comment, field checking or specimen examination.
Doubtful
or rejected records are annotated on the Recorder
database, with details of the doubt or reasons for the rejection of the record.
This procedure is used to ensure that the original
rejected record cannot be subsequently re-found and entered as a valid record.
All data held for a particular taxonomic group are
periodically reviewed by a specialist in that taxonomic group, normally via the
Specialist Species Groups.
SBRC
operates a system of satellite computers held by specialists in taxonomic
species groups. Each computer satellite holds a copy of the Recorder software.
SBRC supports the satellite with hardware and software support and training in
software use and standards of data entry. The specialist validates all records
collected by members of the specialist group before entry onto the satellite.
SBRC undertakes a check of grid reference and other key data fields before
copying of the satellite data to the main Recorder database.
Validation
of habitat data
SBRC
operates a set of validation rules for the capture of habitat data to GIS as
follows:
Only
habitat records which pass the following quality
threshold, in the opinion of the assessor, will be captured to the GIS system:
Date - accurate to at least a single year, and preferably
month and day.
Classification
system - a recognised habitat classification system was used,
or the data can be translated without ambiguity.
Accuracy
of habitat interpretation - there are no doubts about the competence of the
surveyor in relation to the survey and/or classification system in use.
Scale
of mapping - the habitat has been mapped at a scale consistent with data
capture at the 1:10000 scale and with a minimum
polygon size normally of 0.1 ha
Mapping
base - the habitat has been mapped on the OS base or other geo-referencing
system consistent with BS7666, or with a sketch map relating to one of these.
Accuracy
of habitat boundary mapping - habitat boundaries have been
mapped with a maximum geographical displacement normally of 50 metres,
projected onto a horizontal surface.
Habitat
records held by SBRC which are assessed as failing one or
more of these validation rules will be marked as such on the paper copy
and not captured electronically.
County
Wildlife Site selection
Sites have been recorded in the County Wildlife Sites Register according to the selection
criteria.
Comprehensiveness
of survey
It
is the objective of Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Suffolk County Council to
identify all land within the county which meets the
County Wildlife Site selection criteria. Additional sites
which meet only species criteria are found primarily through special
projects, specialist species groups’ recording or other external data.
SBRC
advises users on the comprehensiveness of survey data available for particular
geographical areas, or for particular habitats, individual species or taxonomic
groups. SWT/SBRC may also advise users on the additional surveys required to
assess an area, habitat or species for a specified purpose.
SBRC
does not seek to record the absence of species from a particular location, as
this is rarely possible to prove beyond reasonable doubt.
Validation
of output
All data searches undertaken by SBRC for users are checked
by SBRC staff before release to the user.
Internal
spreadsheets with specific protocols are used for
keeping an audit trail of status changes and boundary changes on County
Wildlife Sites. These are used for the validation of
six monthly digital data supply to service agreement holders.
The
status of sites in the Recorder database is checked
against the GIS site selection before digital data of County Wildlife Sites are
supplied to users. Reports compiled by SBRC for users are
checked thoroughly for content and accuracy by SBRC staff before release
to the user. In all cases practice will follow SBRC
policy, the details of which are available upon request.
Data
ownership and copyright
Under development
The Records
Centre’s approach to handling the complex laws of data ownership and copyright
as it applies to biological records will require development. This should
include provision for data providers to license the Records Centre to manage
and provide access to records, within its policies and procedures, on behalf of
the recorders.
Services
offered to data providers
Under development
See Services page
This policy will
detail the services that the Records Centre will offer to data providers,
including access to their own data. The relationships with the specialist
species groups will be described and developed.
Data
access terms and conditions
Under development
This policy will
give details on the opportunities and constraints on user access to the Records
Centre’s data. The policy will be based on that under
development within the National Biodiversity Network.
Confidentiality
Under development
A detailed
confidentiality policy is essential to prevent any possible misuse of sensitive
data. The vulnerability of sensitive habitats and species will be the objective
basis of this policy, as agreed by the Records Centre’s governing body
comprising both users and recorders. Data providers should have full confidence
in the Records Centre to manage sensitive data appropriately. Users should be
able to access the great majority of data rapidly and be able to take sensitive data into account in decisions.
‘Sensitive’ data can be defined as data whose release might lead to damage of
the natural environment. Such data probably amounts to less than 5% of the
complete dataset.
In some cases landowners may request that data relating to their
land is kept confidential; this may be for a variety of reasons. The SBRC will
consider each case on its merits and may in some cases refuse to accept data
which it cannot use.
The Environmental
Information Regulations (EIR) impose a duty on public
bodies to provide information relating to the environment to anyone who
requests it. Whilst they do not apply to all LRCs,
the EIR do provide a useful framework for considering what is sensitive and
what is not. The EIR encompass a wide range of general and specific reasons for
refusing requests for information. However, there should be a presumption in
favour of allowing access to data and restricting access only when it is truly
essential. Regulation 4(3)d is particularly worth
noting, as it is this which is most likely to be used as a justification for
refusing to release wildlife information on grounds of sensitivity. It requires
a judgement to be made, and, if necessary, defended at
appeal. SBRC Steering Group will carefully consider criteria for refusing data
access on grounds of sensitivity, and ensure they take account of the
exceptions to the right to information laid out in Regulation 4.
SBRC is not prepared to give blanket accreditation to organisations (e.g.
a local authority with an SLA) and will only release sensitive data to
particular accredited individuals within the organisation.
When the results of data
searches being undertaken for clients include
confidential information that the enquirer is not normally entitled to they
will be informed of the existence of the confidential information and invited
to make a request for the data to be released. Requests will
be reviewed in the light of the above checks and criteria and data
released only if SBRC are confident that it is safe to do so. Special
conditions may be applied to the treatment by the
enquirer of any confidential data supplied.
Charging
(see Charges)
The Records Centre’s charging policy is based around the central tenet
that biological data should not have any monetary value attached. Free access
to readily accessible digitised data and paper systems is provided to
individual members of the public, voluntary recorders, bona fide
researchers, students, individual landowners, charitable or voluntary nature
conservation organisations, and natural history or other learned societies.
Enquirers may be asked to present their credentials
before an enquiry is answered.
Charges to
organisations are service related and aim to maintain the Records Centre as a
sustainable unit.
Within
the terms of its SLAs or other agreements with
sponsoring bodies, the SBRC will apply charges for the supply of data,
information or advice, and for the management of data. No charges will be made for data as such. Charges will
be levied to recover the costs of time spent compiling and supplying
information, and for any necessary expenses. Charges will
generally only be levied from persons or organisations whose use of the
Centre has not been agreed to be financed by its sponsoring authorities, or
where the type and extent of an enquiry lies outside the scope of its SLAs. In setting its charges, the Centre will use its core
available work hours and overall budget as a basis for establishing its costs,
including the costs of managing its operation.
The
Centre reserves the right to recoup a proportion of the costs of acquiring and
managing data from its users, within the scope of maintaining charges at a
reasonable level, and in the spirit of the EIR and NBN access principles.
Current
charges (to be reviewed annually)
Charges
for users with SLAs or other finance agreements are
£15 per hour. Any work requested by such users which falls
outside the terms of their agreement will be charged at £20 per hour.
Charges
for commercial users such as Environmental Consultants are £40 p/h with a
minimum charge of £100. Charges may be waived if no
data is available within the search area. Formal enquiries, and in particular
paid enquiries, must be made in writing (including fax or e-mail), and, where
appropriate, will be given a verbal or written quote prior to the work being
done. Payments will be requested by invoice from SCC.
Publications
The Records Centre
has a key role in facilitating the publication of material relating to the
natural history of Suffolk. In general this is done
through support for other groups’ relevant publications, but the Centre (and
its staff) may also publish in its own right. Many of these materials will
support ongoing surveys where the production of Provisional Atlases can greatly
aid recording. The centre may also publish maps and other information products
using electronic media such as CDs or the internet.
Health and Safety
Conformity to the
letter and spirit of the Health and Safety legislation is required. This is currently covered through the host organisation – SCC.
Satellite
management
The Records Centre
will work towards establishing and supporting satellite copies of the Recorder
2000 database when it is confident that the software is sufficiently stable and
that it has enough resource to support more inputters.
Whilst the Centre may be in a position to provide free copies of the relevant
software and training, it is unlikely that it will have sufficient funds to
purchase hardware for satellite users. Satellite users will not be authorised
to answer enquiries or provide a service to third parties and the SBRC will
reserve the right to withdraw support from users who do not follow its
policies.
Interpretation and Advice
In general the SBRC does not provide advice on conservation
issues. This is critical in maintaining the position of the Records Centre as
an impartial data holder. Where there are questions about the status and distribution
of species or habitats the Centre will try and
restrict its advice to provision of objective analysis of facts and not get
involved in subjective arguments about the relative importance of such facts.
Marine issues
Under development
The extent to
which the Records Centre covers marine issues, and how far out to sea the
recording area extends should be outlined.
Accreditation
Under development
The Records Centre
will attempt to follow NBN guidance on accreditation but will need to decide
what level is appropriate for the current staffing and what timescale should be allowed for progression to a higher level.
Representations and
Complaints
Major users are
represented on the SBRC Management Group which meets
regularly. The Management Group is the forum to bring forward suggestions for SBRC’s priorities and work programmes.
Representations or
complaints concerning individual cases should be made
to the SBRC Director in the first instance. The SBRC Director will respond
within 21 days. If clients are not satisfied with the response
the facts should be reported to the chairman of the SBRC Management Group and
to the user's representative on the Management Group.