Who We Are
Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) is a public sector body, set up as a non-ministerial office, independent of Scottish Government, and accountable to the Scottish Parliament.
We’re led by a Chair and Board, have a Chief Executive and specialised team, and a main office based in Edinburgh. Our Board Members have significant experience in leading independent scrutiny organisations and particular expertise in European environmental law.
Meet our Chair
Jim Martin has had a wide-ranging career in the public and private sectors, serving as the first Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland (2007–2009), the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (2009–2017) and recently as the Chair of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (2018-2022).
In his earlier career, among other roles, Jim was General Secretary for the Educational Institute of Scotland; Scottish non-executive Chairman of Logica and ran a management consultancy. Towards the end of 2019, he was asked to bring his strategic investigative, organisational, governance and start up skills to the design and planning for an interim advisory panel. This panel would have been needed to prevent an environmental governance gap had there been a “no deal” Brexit at the beginning of 2020.
Jim brings strong experience of investigating complex and controversial matters of public concern in Scotland; holding public organisations to account, and fostering improvement across public service delivery to improve outcomes.
Meet our Board and Team
ESS Board Members’ Declarations of Interests – September 2023