Series details: CRDA/9

The Internal Drainage Board (IDB) Database was created by the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) to hold data from annual reports submitted to MAFF by Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) in England, and details of IDB-related contact persons. NDAD holds three datasets covering the 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97 financial years (see Links to dataset catalogues). The data primarily relates to the finances of IDBs and the preparation of water level management plans for Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in IDB districts.

IDBs have been described as "virtually autonomous co-operatives of farmers and landowners who have a strong interest in ensuring that drainage work continues".1 There were 235 IDBs in England in 1996, most of them in lowland rural areas with special drainage needs (e.g. the Fens of East Anglia).2 During the period (1994/95-1996/97) covered by the datasets held by NDAD, IDBs' activities were regulated by the Land Drainage Act 1991, as amended by the Land Drainage Act 1994 and the Environment Act 1995. This authorised IDBs to maintain and improve existing drainage works in their districts and to construct new works. Some IDBs also exercised powers under Local Acts of Parliament. Their functions were limited to drainage works on watercourses not designated as "main rivers" (flood defence on "main rivers" being the responsibility of the Environment Agency's Regional and Local Flood Defence Committees). IDBs could derive their income from drainage rates levied by them on agricultural land and buildings, special levies on local authorities, contributions from the Environment Agency, and grant-in-aid from MAFF towards drainage schemes. Members of IDBs were elected by the payers of drainage rates, and were appointed by local authorities subject to special levies.3

MAFF's involvement with IDBs stemmed from its overall responsibility for policy relating to flood and coastal defence in England, and from its role in administering the legislation allowing flood and coastal defence works to be carried out. During the period 1994-1997 MAFF's functions included a general oversight of the work of local authorities, IDBs and the Environment Agency in the following areas: planning, maintaining and operating defence measures; the provision of advice and guidance to these authorities; the funding of research into flood and coastal defence; and grant-in-aid for capital projects. Following the creation of the National Assembly for Wales, co-ordination of flood and coastal defence policy in Wales became the responsibility of the Assembly (which exercised powers formerly held by the Welsh Office: see the Administrative History of the Welsh Office).4 In 1999, when the first IDB dataset was transferred to NDAD, flood and coastal defence functions were discharged within MAFF by Flood and Coastal Defence with Emergencies Division (FCDE).

The Land Drainage Act 1991 required that IDBs submit an annual report to MAFF, as part of MAFF's supervisory role, setting out details of their activities in the previous year.5 During the period of the three datasets held by NDAD, these reports were sent by the clerks of IDBs to Branch A of FCDE. They contained data relating to the preceding financial year (1 April-31 March), together with preliminary information on special levies which were to be issued in the current financial year. The data on IDBs' finances was used by FCDE to assess applications from IDBs to borrow money and to compare IDBs' previous forecasts of special levies with their actual levies on local authorities. Some of the data was passed to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, where it was used to determine the amounts to be allocated to local authorities to cover special levies from IDBs.6

The reports from IDBs also gathered information on the preparation of water level management plans (WLMPs) for SSSIs within IDB districts. Guidance on preparing WLMPs was first issued by MAFF in 1994, with each plan intended to be a written statement of the water level management objectives for a particular area, designed to balance and integrate the water level management requirements of a range of activities (agriculture, flood defence and conservation). MAFF's guidelines required the operating authorities responsible for water level management (IDBs, local authorities and the Environment Agency) to give priority, when preparing WLMPs, to areas designated by conservation agencies as Sites of Special Scientific Interest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Particular priority was given to SSSIs designated as Special Protection Areas under the EC's Birds Directive, Special Areas of Conservation under the EC's Habitats Directive, or Ramsar sites under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. Data from the IDB returns was used by FCDE's Environmental Adviser to monitor the progress of IDBs in preparing water level management plans for SSSIs.7

In 1991 FCDE's predecessor, Flood Defence Division, began work on a database to hold data from IDB reports and information on contact persons in IDBs, local authorities and the National Rivers Authority (NRA). The NRA was the forerunner of the Environment Agency, which took over the NRA's responsibilities in 1996. Teething problems meant that the database was not fully operational until 1994/95, and no data prior to the 1994/95 financial year is believed to survive. Earlier problems which had been experienced with the address data in the database meant that the section of the database relating to contact persons was not used by Branch A of FCDE. Instead, Branch A relied on a word-processed list of contact persons and only used the database to store information from IDB returns. It also appears that the information on SSSIs gathered from the returns ceased to be entered into the database after the 1995/96 financial year, and was used instead to update a separate Water Level Management Plans Database. This was set up to allow FCDE's Environmental Advisor to track the preparation of WLMPs by IDBs and by other operating authorities, although only current information was recorded in the database.

In 1998 the IDB Database was taken out of service, with the intention that it would be merged with two other databases used by Branch B of FCDE: the "Schemes" database, relating to grants for flood defence schemes; and the "Environment Agency Medium Term Plans" database, relating to the forecasting of expenditure on flood defence schemes. One of the reasons for the merger was to create a shared area of address information for all three databases. The new database was known as the Flood Defence Database. However, while IDB data was imported into the database, in practice this aspect of the system was not used by Branch A of FCDE (though the data derived from "Schemes" and "Environment Agency Medium Term Plans" continued to be used by Branch B). Problems with the non-return of forms from IDBs also meant that Branch A decided not to input the data from the reports for the 1997/98 and 1998/99 financial years. In order to reduce the burden of form-filling on IDBs, IDB returns were simplified, beginning with those for the 1999/2000 financial year. Branch A (renamed Policy and Administration Branch in 2001) entered the data from the 1999/2000 reports into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This was effectively the successor to the IDB Database and consisted solely of financial data; data from SSSIs section of the reports continued to be used to update the Water Level Management Plans Database.8

As previously noted (see Aim and purpose), the Internal Drainage Board Database was originally created by the Flood Defence Division of the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF). It was continued by the Division's successors, Flood and Coastal Defence Division and Flood and Coastal Defence with Emergencies Division. For further information on these divisions and on MAFF, see the Administrative History of the Agriculture Departments.

The three datasets transferred to NDAD were extracted from an 'archived' copy of the IDB Database which MAFF preserved in its original format, after it was taken out of service in 1998. As previously indicated, the IDB database was originally designed to have two main components: one for the names, addresses and roles (e.g. clerk) of contact persons in IDBs, local authorities and the Environment Agency/National Rivers Authority; and the other comprising data from IDBs' annual returns. The first component was not used, or soon ceased to be used, by FCDE; data pertaining to it was not selected for permanent preservation at NDAD (see Scheduling information). The datasets transferred to NDAD therefore consist solely of data from IDB reports for the financial years 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97, though the last of these does not include data gathered on SSSIs (see below).9

The IDB datasets contain the following information for each IDB. Except for the preliminary information on special levies (item 9 below), all of the data relates to IDBs' activities in the previous financial year:

1. The name of the IDB and the name of the relevant National Rivers Authority/Environment Agency region, in cases where the functions of an IDB had been transferred to the NRA or, from 1996 onwards, to the Environment Agency (the NRA's successor).10
2. Details of the IDB's drainage district (its area, the extent of the catchment area, the area of rated agricultural land, the number of sub-districts and the number of SSSIs in the district).
3. Technical information about the length of the IDB's drains and culverts, the number of pumping stations, the area of the drainage district which was pump drained, the estimated amount of water pumped in the year, and the mean rainfall in the catchment area.
4. Details of the IDB's personnel: the number of full-time and part-time administrative and manual staff, and the cost of consultancy services.
5. Details of the IDB's income from drainage rates, from special levies on local authorities (data is given for each local authority), contributions from the NRA/Environment Agency, contributions from local authorities,11 "rechargeable works" undertaken by the IDB for other bodies and persons, and from other sources.
6. Details of the IDB's expenditure on "revenue contributions towards capital expenditure" for drainage and establishment purposes,12 on loan repayments and charges, contributions to the NRA/Environment Agency,13 the maintenance of watercourses, the operating costs of pumping stations, administrative staff costs, establishment charges, "rechargeable works" and other current expenses.
7. Details of the IDB's capital expenditure (on new works and improvements, plant, office equipment and other expenditure), and the sources of finance for capital expenditure (government grants, loans, revenue contributions and other sources).
8. Information about drainage rates: the total annual value of agricultural land and buildings subject to drainage rates, the number of rate assessments and the amount of rate levied in the £.
9. Preliminary information on special levies to be issued on local authorities in the current financial year, including the total amount to be levied, the proportion of the IDB's expenses which are to be raised by special levies, and the amount to be levied on each local authority.

If an IDB's drainage district was divided into sub-districts in order to levy differential drainage rates or issue differential special levies,14 the datasets record the following information for each sub-district:

1. The sub-district's name and reference number.
2. The total income from special levies in the sub-district.
3. The total annual value of agricultural land and buildings subject to drainage rates.
4. The number of rate assessments.
5. The rate in the £ levied.
6. Preliminary information on special levies to be issued in the current financial year (the amount of special levy per local authority and the proportion of the sub-district's expenses which are to be raised by special levies).

If an IDB district included one or more SSSI, the 1994/95 and 1995/96 datasets include the following data for each SSSI:

1. Its name, total area, area located within the IDB district, and location (expressed as a National Grid Reference).
2. Any additional protective designation affecting the site (e.g. Special Protection Area, Ramsar site, National Nature Reserve, candidate Special Area of Conservation).
3. Whether water levels can be controlled in all or part of the SSSI, and if not, the reasons for this.
4. Information about the status of preparation of a Water Level Management Plan and Interim Management Statement for the site: e.g. the target date for completion of the WLMP if the plan was recorded as 'in preparation' or 'required but no action taken'.

The Public Record Office and MAFF decided that data on IDB-related contact persons should not be preserved and should not be transferred to NDAD as part of the datasets from the IDB Database.15

No further transfers of data are expected from the database which was taken out of service in 1998. In 2003 the Public Record Office informed NDAD that it had decided not to preserve IDB data for 1999/2000 and later financial years from the Excel spreadsheets which replaced the database (see Aim and purpose), as the data was now solely of a financial nature.16

The datasets and related dataset documentation are public records under the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967. The Public Record Office has assigned these datasets and documentation the class reference MAF 407.

The datasets are open without restriction. Data is available for browsing on demand by users of NDAD and does not have to be booked in advance. Some items of dataset documentation are subject to access restrictions: see the Dataset Documentation Catalogue for further details.

The datasets and related dataset documentation are Crown Copyright. Copies may be made for private study and research purposes only.

The datasets do not include the names and addresses of IDB-related contacts and therefore are not subject to registration under the Data Protection Act.

The language of the materials is English.

Documents relating to the IDB Database have been transferred to NDAD and are listed in the Dataset Documentation Catalogue. One item of accompanying (i.e. non-archival) documentation was transferred to NDAD.

NDAD also holds two series of datasets and documentation relating to the coastal defence responsibilities of MAFF and the Welsh Office. Further details are given in the Series Catalogue of MAFF's Coast Protection Survey of England (CRDA/10) and the Series Catalogue of the Welsh Office's Coastal Survey - Wales (CRDA/6).

IDB Database (c.1994-1998): workstations linked to a ProLiant server manufactured by Compaq Computer Corporation.

IDB Database (c.1994-1998): SCO UNIX manufactured by Santa Cruz Operation Inc, Santa Cruz, California.

IDB Database (c.1994-1998): DataEase version 4.2 manufactured by Sapphire International, 13-19 Curtain Road, London.17

The IDB Database was designed to allow users to carry out four types of functions:

• To view, add and amend details of contact persons and the bodies to which they related (IDBs, local authorities or NRA/Environment Agency regions).
• To view, add and amend information gathered from the annual reports of IDBs.
• To run eight "IDB Users Reports" to summarise certain types of IDB data for a given year.
• To run two "Management Reports" to compare two years' worth of IDB data, or to select a procedure from a series of procedures designed to calculate the median, upper and lower quartiles for various analyses of IDB data (e.g. penny rate product per hectare of rated agricultural land).

It appears that these functions were accessed through an initial menu presenting the four options (IDB Address List Options, IDB Return Options, IDB Reports and Management Reports). These options each led to a separate sub-menu, which in turn led to screens for entering and viewing data or running reports.

The system allowed users to input and view data on contact persons, and data from IDB returns, using on-screen forms. In the case of return data, the on-screen forms were designed to imitate the layout of the paper forms completed by IDBs: i.e. there were on-screen forms corresponding to the IDB 1, IDB 1 Annex A and IDB 1 Annex B forms (for details of the paper forms used for IDBs' annual reports, see How data was originally captured and validated). These on-screen forms were generated from DataEase forms and sub-forms holding the data in the database (see Logical structure and schema). The "IDB Users Reports" and "Management Reports" were created using DataEase Query Language (DQL).18

Further information about the design and intended use of the IDB Database are provided in the Database Description and User Guide: see the Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/9/DD/1/1.

Data in the IDB Database was stored in forms which were the equivalent, in DataEase, of files or tables. The following table summarises the forms which were used in the database to hold data from IDB returns and related information:19

The datasets transferred to NDAD consist of tables which correspond to the above forms, with the exception of the 1996/97 dataset which does not contain an IDB1AnnexA table. Printouts of the DataEase forms with descriptions of their fields have been transferred to NDAD and can be consulted via the Dataset Documentation Catalogue, references CRDA/9/DD/5/1-9.

Additional forms were meant to be used in the database to hold details of contact persons (CorrName, ADDRESS, CorrespType, CORRESPONDENT). This aspect of the database was not used by Branch A of FCDE, and these forms were not included in the datasets sent to NDAD.

For further information about the structure of the IDB Database, see the Database Description and User Guide (Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/9/DD/1/1). Details of the structure of individual IDB datasets are provided in the Dataset Catalogues (see Links to dataset catalogues).

The datasets derived from the IDB Database are closed, in the sense that data from the annual reports of IDBs was preserved by MAFF for each financial year and was not overwritten by new data. However, it is also clear from the dataset documentation supplied to NDAD that other aspects of the IDB Database were meant to be dynamic: e.g. details relating to contact persons could be deleted or amended by new information as necessary.20

The annual returns of IDBs for the financial years covered by the datasets held by NDAD (1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97) were submitted to MAFF using three standard paper forms:

• IDB 1: the main annual report form, containing most of the information which IDBs were required to supply.
• IDB 1 Annex A: information relating to SSSIs. An IDB 1 Annex A form was returned for each SSSI in an IDB's district (if an IDB contained no SSSIs, no form would be completed).
• IDB 1 Annex B: information relating to sub-districts. An IDB 1 Annex B form was returned for each sub-district in an IDB's district (if an IDB was not divided into sub-districts, no form would be completed).

Examples of these forms and the guidance notes for completing the forms can be consulted via the Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/9/DD/2. Except for some changes to the IDB 1 Annex A form, the design of the forms and the questions asked in them remained constant during the period 1994/95-1996/97.

Blank forms appear to have been sent out to IDB clerks in May-June; the majority of forms which were returned to Branch A of FCDE appear to have been received between July and September. A manual check of the forms was carried out by Branch A before data entry, with IDBs being contacted to resolve any problems which were detected.21

Details of the content and transformation validation checks performed by NDAD staff on the IDB datasets are recorded in the catalogues of individual datasets: see Links to dataset catalogues.

Dataset catalogues provide more detailed information about individual datasets, and are currently available for the following dataset(s):

1. E.C. Penning-Roswell, D.J. Parker and D.M. Harding, Floods and Drainage: British policies for hazard reduction, agricultural improvement and wetland conservation, Risks and Hazards Series no. 2 (London: Allen and Unwin, 1986), p. 38.

2. Penning-Roswell, Parker and Harding, Floods and Drainage, p. 38; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Flood and Coastal Defence, MAFF publication reference PB2331 ([London?]: MAFF, 1996), p. 2.

3. MAFF, Flood and Coastal Defence, p.2; Lord Hailsham of St. Marylebone, ed., Halsbury's Laws of England: Fourth Edition Reissue (London: Butterworths, 1997), vol 49(2), pp. 271-275, 293, 318.

4. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Flood and Coastal Defence, p. 2; MAFF web site, pages on "Flood and coastal defence strategy" (http://www.maff.gov.uk/environ/fcd/strategy.htm), "Flood and coastal defence grant aided projects" (http://www.maff.gov.uk/environ/fcd/projects.htm) and "Aims and objectives: programme for flood and coastal defence" (http://www.maff.gov.uk/environ/fcd/default.htm), consulted on 19 May 1998.

5. Land Drainage Act 1991, schedule 2, para 4 (for a copy of the Act, see http://www.web.soi.city.ac.uk/cisr/parlc/acts/1991/1991.059.html).

6. Notes of telephone conversations between NDAD and MAFF on 19 February 1999 and 23 February 1999.

7. MAFF web site, "Water Level Management Plans: Additional Guidance Notes for Operating Authorities" (http://www.maff.gov.uk/environ/fcd/pubs/watlevel.htm), consulted on 23 April 2001; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Welsh Office, Code of Practice on Environmental Procedures for Flood Defence Operating Authorities, MAFF publication reference PB2906 ([London?]: MAFF, 1996), pp. 27-29.

8. Notes of telephone conversations between NDAD and MAFF on 19 February 1999, 23 February 1999, 19 April 2001, 23 April 2001 and 26 April 2001; Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/9/DD/1/1, p. [1].

9. Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/9/DD/1/1, p. [1]; note of email received by NDAD from MAFF on 26 January 1999; note of telephone conversation between NDAD and MAFF on 8 February 1999.

10. On the transfer of the responsibilities of IDBs to the Environment Agency, see Hailsham of St. Marylebone, ed., Halsbury's Laws of England: Fourth Edition Reissue, vol 49(2), p. 281.

11. The Land Drainage Act 1991, s.60(1) specifies that a local authority may "contribute, or undertake to contribute, to the expenses of the carrying out or maintenance of any drainage works by a drainage body such amount as . . . appears to the local authority to be proper". These contributions are voluntary and are distinct from the special levies issued by IDBs on local authorities.

12. "Revenue contributions to capital expenditure" is defined in the guidance notes accompanying the IDB report forms as "expenditure on the acquisition of assets expected to have a life of more than one year, which is met directly from the Revenue Account, as opposed to being financed from loans, grants, special funds or other sources": Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/9/DD/2/4.

13. The Environment Agency might require IDBs to "make towards the agency's expenses such contributions as the agency considers to be fair". IDBs might also apply for contributions towards their expenses from the Environment Agency, where they were affected by water draining from lands at a higher level or by reason of the period that might elapse before they obtained relief from the operations of the Agency on a main river: Hailsham of St. Marylebone, ed., Halsbury's Laws of England: Fourth Edition Reissue, vol 49(2), p. 322-323.

14. On the sub-division of IDB districts, see Land Drainage Act 1991, s.38(1).

15. Note of emails received from the Public Record Office on 9 November 1998 and 10 November 1998; note of telephone conversation between NDAD and the Public Record Office on 21 January 1999.

16. Email from PRO to NDAD, 17 January 2003.

17. Dataset transfer form completed by MAFF for the Annual Dataset for 1994/95 (CRDA/9/DS/1), held in the NDAD paper accessions files; note of email received from MAFF on 26 February 1999.

18. Dataset Documentation Catalogue, reference CRDA/9/DD/1/1

19. Dataset Documentation Catalogue reference CRDA/9/DD/1/1, pp. [1-3].

20. Dataset Documentation Catalogue reference CRDA/9/DD/1/1, p. [11].

21. Notes of telephone conversations between NDAD and MAFF on 19 February 1999 and 23 February 1999. The dates when forms were received are recorded, in each dataset, in the DATEIDB field in the IDBAR table.