The National Infrastructure Commission has today published its latest report: Developing Resilience Standards in UK Infrastructure. 
 
Resilient infrastructure can continue to provide the services business and communities rely on, despite any short-term shocks. But this requires significant investment. In the second National Infrastructure Assessment the Commission recommended that the government publish resilience standards for the digital and telecoms, energy, transport and water sectors by 2025. In doing so infrastructure service providers would be more likely to make the necessary investment and ensure the UK’s infrastructure services are more resistant to shocks. 
 
This report explores the standards which already exist and identifies potential gaps the government may wish to fill in its first round of standard setting. For the four sectors the Commission look at, it proposes that:

• Digital and telecoms: Government should consider whether private telecoms networks serving critical national infrastructure require specific resilience standards. Ofcom should also review the accuracy and accessibility of consumer information on the reliability of public telecoms networks.  
• Energy: Government should understand how future changes to the energy system will affect the ability of the system to meet demand, setting a baseline expectation of a level of demand the system should be able to meet. The sector should also set a standard for the future health of physical assets which make up the energy transmission and distribution systems which factors in future threats, including climate change.  
• Transport: Government should set out the levels of resilience expected of key routes and nodes in the transport system. It should also introduce a forward looking standard for the health of the physical assets which make up the transport system which factors in future threats, including climate change.  
• Water: Government should set out targets for the peak short term water supply demand that systems are expected to be able to meet, for the maximum number of households whose supply is at risk from the failure of a single asset, and for reducing the number of customers at risk of sewer flooding in a severe storm. Government should also introduce a forward looking standard for the health of physical assets within water and wastewater systems which factors in future threats, including climate change. 

The report also highlights the importance of considering interdependency risks between sectors, such as between water supply and energy generation. These interdependencies should be identified so that efficient resilience solutions can be developed on a cross-sector basis. 
 
The report is available to read on the Commission website.