Business Plan 2024/25 – 2025/26

2.1

Our current 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.

2.2

We monitor progress against the Strategic Plan and report publicly through these Business Plans, and through our Annual Report and Accounts each year. We update Parliament directly on our progress with videos, Committee appearances and written correspondence, all of which we publish on the ESS website.

2.3

As set out in the ‘our work’ section below, a review of the Strategic Plan has begun in 2024/25, with a view to publishing our next Strategy in 2025/26.

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 was published in October 2023, for the 18-month period October 2021 to March 2023, followed by the accounts for the 12-month period ended 31 March 2024.

3.3

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

3.4

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

4.1

ESS’ Business Plan for the period from April 2024 to March 2025 was published in March 2024. Set out below are the key pieces of work which were identified for the financial year 2024/25. A progress update is included alongside each item.

5.1

The sections below set out the key priorities and outputs that will be delivered from April 2025 to March 2026. These will be reviewed quarterly and updated as required.

5.2

During 2024/25 we began a review of our Strategic Plan. We will engage with stakeholders as part of this review and will consult on a draft revised Strategy in the summer of 2025. This revised Strategy will then be presented to the Scottish Parliament for consideration and approval by December 2025. If approved, the revised Strategy will direct ESS’ work for the period from 2026-2031.

5.3

All related policies and procedures will be reviewed and revised alongside this programme of work. For example, the approach to business planning, key performance indicators and communication and engagement.

Ensuring compliance and effectiveness

5.4

In the current ESS Strategic Plan, the strategic outcome set against ensuring compliance and effectiveness is: ‘we have taken effective action to ensure public authorities’ compliance with environmental law and to improve the effectiveness of the law’.

5.5

In the Plan we set 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 to, or 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 for 2025/26

5.6

We will:

• pursue identified failures to comply with environmental law with the relevant public authorities
• continue to resolve matters by agreement with the relevant public authorities where possible, within a reasonable timescale
• use ESS’ statutory powers to secure changes and remedial actions to address poor compliance and address environmental risks
• where our investigations identify systemic patterns of compliance failure, or areas where the law is ineffective in protecting the environment or public health, pursue this directly with the relevant parts of the Scottish Government
• seek to resolve matters and secure the necessary improvements by agreement with the Scottish Government, and where this is not possible within a reasonable timescale, use ESS’ statutory powers to prepare and issue improvement reports to the Scottish Parliament

Investigate environmental concerns

5.7

The strategic outcome set against investigating environmental concerns in the ESS Strategic Plan is: ‘we have prioritised and investigated the most important matters of concern and identified the action needed to rectify problems and improve compliance and effectiveness.

5.8

In the Plan we set 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 authority(s) 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, providing relevant parties with updates and an estimate of the completion date of each investigation in line with service standards

Key pieces of work for 2025/26

5.9

We will:

April to June

• assess the outcome of the Scottish Government’s work on ‘Ramsar’ site protection
• publish the outcome of our investigation into the classification of Special Protection Areas

July to September

• publish the outcome of our investigation into the sustainable management of fisheries
• commence assessment of how Scottish public authorities implement their legal obligations in respect of public registers
• commence assessment of the contaminated land regime in Scotland

Ongoing work

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

Monitoring and analysis

5.10

The strategic outcome set against monitoring and analysis in the ESS Strategic Plan is: ‘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’.

5.11

In the Plan we set 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 for 2025/26

5.12

We will:

April to June

• contribute to Stage 1 Parliamentary scrutiny of the Natural Environment Bill (including proposals to designate ESS as the Independent Review Body responsible for scrutinising progress towards targets for nature recovery)

July to December

• contribute to Parliamentary scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan
• contribute to Stage 2 and 3 Parliamentary scrutiny of the Natural Environment Bill

January to March

• publish the outcome of our analytical work on threats to the marine environment (focused on seafloor integrity)

Ongoing work

• deliver a programme of analytical work on priority issues identified in ESS’ approved Strategic Plan, including:
  • water quality and progress against river basin management plan objectives, with an initial focus on diffuse pollution
  • invasive non-native species (INNS)
• monitor the response of public authorities to recommendations made in analytical reports published in 2023/24 and 2024/25, including:
  • air quality (particulate matter)
  • sewage discharge into the aquatic environment (storm overflows)
  • soil health
  • marine litter
• respond to relevant consultations and contribute to scrutiny of proposed changes to environmental law, including:
  • proposals for legislation on water, wastewater and drainage
  • the implementation of the Integrated Authorisation Framework
• monitor developments in European and international law and regulation and commission an assessment of the extent to which there is alignment between environmental standards, laws and regulations in Scotland and the European Union or other international best practice
• further develop and maintain effective systems for monitoring data and evidence on environmental performance, including Scotland’s comparative performance
• further 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

Engaging and communicating effectively

5.13

The strategic outcome set against engaging and communicating effectively in the ESS Strategic Plan is: ‘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’.

5.14

In the Plan we set out our intention to:

• be accountable through reporting annually to the Scottish Parliament on our activities and liaise with relevant committees to provide updates on our work and avoid unintentional overlap in 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 website of our live investigations, pre-investigation casework and frequently asked questions
• continue to develop our communication with stakeholders in the public, private and voluntary sectors, and review our Communications and Engagement Plan alongside our Strategy to broaden our reach, in particular to marginalised or disadvantaged communities and groups to increase awareness of our role and how to raise concerns

Key pieces of work for 2025/26

5.15

We will:

April to October

• review and publish a new Communication and Engagement Plan, linking to the development of the new Strategy, to set out ESS’ approach to:
  • explaining our work and culture, with clear accessible messaging, to demonstrate our impact, independence and authority on environmental law in Scotland
  • stakeholder engagement, and the continued delivery of the community engagement programme, utilising the convening power of ESS
  • systematically identifying specific audiences for ESS’ work and how we will use innovative communication tools, including digital and social media, to engage with them

Ongoing

• proactively increase the understanding of our role and how people can raise matters of environmental concern with us, through building on external feedback and piloting new approaches
• proactively engage with the Scottish Parliament and relevant committees to increase awareness and understanding of our work
• continue to provide and publish six-monthly updates to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee in August and February each year

Developing a high-performing organisation

5.16

The strategic outcome set against developing a high performing organisation in the ESS Strategic Plan is: ‘we are an effective and efficient organisation’.

5.17

In the Plan we set 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’ necessary staffing complement 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
• establish 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 for 2025/26

5.18

We will:

April to June

• review our existing governance and operational approach to work, linking to the development of the new Strategy, demonstrating our impact through performance management indicators and a theory of change approach
• build on the implementation of the new Oracle finance system to enhance efficiency and financial planning opportunities
• implement the processes and policies for monitoring and minimising ESS’ impact on the environment, through developing phase two of the Sustainability Plan

July to September

• support the Minister and Parliamentary process to appoint an additional Board member

Ongoing

• deliver the People Strategy action plan and equalities related initiatives
• assess opportunities for longer-term financial flexibility and sustainability meeting public service reform principles

6.1

Our general performance and progress towards our strategic outcomes are currently monitored through a suite of performance and management indicators as set out below. These existing indicators are reported against in the ESS Annual Report to Scottish Parliament each year.

6.2

Performance indicators:

6.3

Management indicators:

6.4

As set out at 1.14, as part of the review of the current Strategic Plan, the approach to key performance indicators will be reviewed and set out in the new Strategy 2026-2031.