Business Plan 2022/23 – 2023/24

2. Strategic Plan

2.1
As required by the Continuity Act, our proposed Strategic Plan for 2022-2025 was submitted to the Scottish Parliament on 30 September 2022 for consideration. The proposed Plan was approved by the Parliament on 24 November 2022 and the final Plan published on our website on 1 December 2022.

2.2
Our Strategic Plan sets out how we will work as an organisation to deliver a series of strategic outcomes which, together, will help us progress towards achieving our Vision. The Plan details how we will approach each aspect of our role and how we will measure our performance and contribution to environmental protection and improvement.

2.3
We will monitor progress against the Strategic Plan and undertake a review with three years. Progress will be reported to the Scottish Parliament through our Annual Reports.

3. Governance arrangements

3.1
Our Board meets regularly and the minutes of its meetings are available on our Publications page, as are the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee.

3.2
ESS is accountable to the Scottish Parliament and has a legal duty to report on its activities each year. As a body corporate, ESS operates in line with the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 and has a duty to produce annual accounts in line with the Government Financial Reporting Manual. The first set of accounts will be produced for the 18-month period October 2021 to March 2023.

3.3
The ESS Chief Executive Officer Mark Roberts is the Accountable Officer for ESS, responsible to the Scottish Parliament for the propriety and regularity of ESS’ finances; for the economical, efficient and effective use of the resources placed at its disposal; and for signing ESS’ accounts.

3.4
Deloitte LLP provide the external audit function for ESS, on behalf of Audit Scotland, and Scottish Government Internal Audit provides an audit advisory service to the Accountable Officer and Audit and Risk Committee.

4. Our work

2021-2023

4.1
Following a period of set-up, ESS published its first Business Plan in January 2022. Set out below are the key pieces of work identified at this time, all of which have now been achieved, as per the progress report sitting alongside.

4. Our work

2023-2023

4.2
The sections below set out the key priorities and outputs that will be delivered from April 2023 to March 2024.

Ensuring compliance and effectiveness

Strategic Outcome:

We have taken effective action to ensure public authorities’ compliance with environmental law and to improve the effectiveness of the law

Our Strategic Plan sets out our intention to:

• seek to work constructively with public authorities where possible to reach informal resolution
• use our statutory powers to prevent further harm or to reduce the risks to the environment, or public health
• issue a compliance notice where we consider that: there has been a failure by a public authority to comply with environmental law; harm to the environment has been caused, is continuing to be caused, or is at risk of being caused as a result
• prepare an improvement report where we consider that: there is a failure by one or more public authorities to comply with the law or where a systemic change is required by the public authority(s) concerned to improve compliance with, and/or the effectiveness of; environmental law
• consider the use of our power to make an application for judicial review, or intervene in civil proceedings taken by another party

Key pieces of work 2023-2024:

• where, through our investigations we identify failures to comply with environmental law, we will pursue these issues with the relevant public authorities and take the action needed to improve compliance
• we will seek to resolve matters by agreement with the relevant public authorities where possible, within a reasonable timescale
• where needed, we will use ESS’ statutory powers to secure changes and remedial actions to address poor compliance and address environmental risks
• where our investigations identify patterns of compliance failure, or areas where the law is ineffective in protecting the environment or public health, we will pursue this directly with the relevant parts of the Scottish Government
• where possible, we will seek to resolve matters and secure the necessary changes and improvements by agreement with the Scottish Government
• where this isn’t possible within a reasonable timescale, we will use ESS’ statutory powers and take formal action by preparing and issuing improvement reports to the Scottish Parliament

Investigating Environmental Concerns

Strategic Outcome

We have prioritised and investigated the most important matters of concern and identified the action needed to rectify problems and improve compliance and effectiveness

Our Strategic Plan sets out our intention to:

• assess whether representations made to us may trigger an immediate investigation due to importance, neglect or added value
• take into account importance, scope and nature, neglect and added value when prioritising our work
• notify the public authorities and relevant parties of our decision where we decide to investigate a matter of concern
• gather information from the public authority(s) concerned through the issuing of Information Notices
• work quickly and efficiently throughout our investigations and provide relevant parties with updates and an estimate of the completion date of each investigation as soon as we can

Key pieces of work 2023-2024:

• we will actively support parties submitting representations, particularly where they are unfamiliar with ESS processes, to ensure their concerns are accurately captured
• we will carefully review and assess all representations to identify candidates for investigation and advise on alternative routes for cases not suitable for investigation
• we will regularly review and publish our forward work programme, so that we are investigating the most important environmental concerns
• we will regularly update our publicly available register of investigations and carry out these investigations
• we will keep those who have made representations informed about our consideration and investigation of their matter of concern
• we will publish reports about the issues we have investigated and the actions that have been taken
• we will continuously assess our systems and processes, to ensure the effectiveness of our investigations

Monitoring and Analysis

Strategic Outcome:

We have built knowledge on environmental performance, are well informed about developments in EU and international standards and practice, and have formed effective partnerships with bodies collecting, collating and scrutinising environmental data

Our Strategic Plan sets out our intention to:

• collate, synthesise and assess the evidence about potential matters of concern (including matters of public concern) against a range of criteria, including: impact; nature and scope; neglect; and added value
• cast our net widely, identifying and interrogating data, reports, submissions and intelligence from partners and stakeholders that can help us identify instances of non-compliance or ineffective implementation of the law
• quality assure the evidence we use to ensure it is robust, reliable and objective
• progress our monitoring and analysis work through a series of stages, from horizon scanning to identify high-level areas of concern, through a deepening analysis and understanding of how things are changing in that area, the causes of this, and how policy and regulatory decisions affect this
• continue to monitor environmental performance more widely to assess whether any other matters of concern should be prioritised. We will also undertake horizon scanning to identify emerging matters of concern and relevant improvements in environmental law elsewhere

Key pieces of work 2023-2024:

• we will deliver a programme of analytical work on priority issues identified in ESS’ approved Strategic Plan, including:
  • air quality targets/standards for particulate matter
  • biodiversity decline
  • sewage discharge into the aquatic environment
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • threats to the marine environment
  • soil health
  • illegal disposal and management of waste
• we will monitor data and evidence on environmental performance and undertake a regular review of ESS’ analytical priorities to identify emerging issues of concern
• we will develop and maintain effective systems for monitoring Scotland’s comparative environmental performance and for identifying relevant developments in European and international law and regulation
• we will develop and maintain effective working relationships with a range of organisations involved in collating, analysing and publishing data and evidence on environmental performance in Scotland
• we will respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation on their report into the effectiveness of environmental governance arrangements following EU withdrawal (as required by the Continuity Act)

Engaging and Communicating Effectively

Strategic Outcome:

Our role is widely understood and individuals, groups and organisations are confident raising concerns with us. We are regularly engaged in work to improve compliance, the effectiveness of environmental law and how it is applied

Our Strategic Plan sets out our intention to:

• be accountable through reporting annually to the Parliament on our activities and liaise with relevant committees to provide updates on our work and avoid unintentional overlap in our work programmes
• liaise with other oversight and scrutiny bodies to ensure that we add value and avoid unnecessary overlap in our functions
• be open to anyone raising a concern with us about compliance with, or the effectiveness of, environmental law in Scotland
• regularly publish information on our live investigations, preinvestigation casework and frequently asked questions on our website
• continue to develop our communication with stakeholders in the public, private and voluntary sectors, and develop our Communications Strategy to broaden our reach, in particular to marginalised or disadvantaged communities and groups, to ensure they are aware of our role and how to raise concerns

Key pieces of work 2023-2024:

• we will actively promote an understanding of our role and how people can make representations to us about matters of concern
• we will deliver the programme of digital communication work identified in the Communication and Engagement Strategy
• all our communication and engagement activity will follow the latest accessibility guidelines and standards
• we will develop and deliver the ESS community and stakeholder engagement programme set out in the Communication and Engagement Strategy
• we will update the ESS website to ensure it complies fully with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018
• we will report publicly to Scottish Parliament on our progress
• we will continuously assess our systems and processes, to ensure the effectiveness and accessibility of our approach

Developing a High Performing Organisation

Strategic Outcome:

We are an effective and efficient organisation.

Our Strategic Plan sets out our intention to:

• ensure our plans and operational activity are regularly reviewed and accountable
• continue to maintain a clear approach to how we allocate and prioritise our spending to ensure best value
• regularly assess ESS’ staffing complement necessary to ensure we can perform our functions effectively
• prioritise the development of our team by implementing our learning and development programme, pulse surveys and events, to build our organisational culture, with a particular focus on equalities and wellbeing
• established our core internal communications policy and continue to create an inclusive culture where team members are consulted and involved in the development of key policy areas

Key pieces of work 2023-2024:

• we will strengthen the capacity of the Board through the recruitment of two new members
• we will review the performance of the Board and Audit and Risk Committee through self-assessment
• we will develop a People Strategy for the organisation, which will include a focus on the culture of the organisation, equalities, and learning and development
• we will build on the experience of ESS’ internal audit reviews and take part in our first external audit to provide independent assurance that public funding is being spent properly, efficiently and effectively
• we will prepare and publish our first Annual Report and submit this to Scottish Parliament
• we will deliver on our corporate reporting requirements, to publicly demonstrate our performance across a range of indicators,
  including delivery of our equalities action plan
• we will review our IT and finance systems, through an independent IT Roadmap exercise
• we will work towards the integration of the new Oracle Cloud finance system in 2024
• we will implement the processes and policies for monitoring and minimising ESS’ impact on the environment as set out in our Sustainability Plan

5. Performance monitoring

5.1
Our general performance and progress towards our strategic outcomes are monitored through a suite of Performance and Management Indicators as set out below. These have been developed and agreed as part of the consultation on our 2022-25 Strategic Plan and will be reported against in the ESS Annual Report to Scottish Parliament.

Performance Indicator

Management Indicator

6. Finances and staffing

6.1
A summary breakdown of ESS’ finances for the financial years 22/23 and 23/24 (ESS’ second two years of operation) is set out in Table 1 below.

6.2
The 2021/22 and 2022/23 final expenditure information will be submitted as part of ESS’ Annual Report to Parliament in October 2023.

6.3
Plans for the full staffing compliment will be reached in 2023. The current ESS staff structure includes a Chief Executive and three senior heads of functions, each covering one of the three main areas of ESS’ operation. The planned staff structure showing the senior roles and the number of staff under each function is set out below. Not all of these positions are permanent, or full time.