Committee
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee 10 March 2026 [Draft]
10 Mar 2026 · S6 · Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Item of business
Document subject to Parliamentary Control
Environmental Standards Scotland Strategy 2026-2031 (ESS/2026/01)
Dr Richard Dixon (Environmental Standards Scotland)
Watch on SPTV
Yes, please. Thank you for giving us the chance to come and talk about our new Environmental Standards Scotland strategy, which will cover the next five years.The strategy builds on our successful four and a half years of operation, and it takes us into a period of change in which we will be absorbing two new scrutiny functions—one on nature targets and the other on the climate duties of local authorities and how they perform them. We will, of course, be accountable to a new Parliament soon, with new members, new committees and a new set of legislative priorities.Our new strategy puts us in a strong position to deliver over the coming five years. We will continue to ensure that public bodies in Scotland comply with and effectively implement environmental law, and we will build on our achievements since we formally came into being, in October 2021, as a non-ministerial office answerable to this Parliament.Our work is resulting in real change. For example, our investigations have led to increased support for local authorities in meeting their climate change duties and full implementation of the Ramsar convention to safeguard Scotland’s internationally important wetlands, and our findings on incineration have helped to prevent overreliance on that method of waste management.You will be familiar with our recent report on storm overflows, which is being taken forward by Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Scottish Government. As in every case when we have agreed action with a public body or a group of bodies, we will continue to monitor progress, scrutinise the implementation of our recommendations and hold those bodies to account.We have also recently made recommendations on topics as diverse as improving air quality, reducing marine litter, protecting soils and eliminating non-native species, which will all make a difference to Scotland’s environment and communities.Our strategy builds on the previous strategy and our past four and a half years of work, and it sets four clear priorities for our proactive work, which are climate, nature, resources and water—that is, fresh water—and the marine environment. The board worked closely with the staff of ESS to produce the strategy, and we carried out wide-ranging consultations online and in person. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to respond, and we are pleased that the feedback on the proposals in our draft strategy has been overwhelmingly positive.The feedback informed and improved the final version, which you have in front of you. We hope that you like it, and we are very happy to answer your questions.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
Welcome back to this meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.The fourth item on our agenda is consideration of Environmental Standards Scotla...
Dr Richard Dixon (Environmental Standards Scotland)
Yes, please. Thank you for giving us the chance to come and talk about our new Environmental Standards Scotland strategy, which will cover the next five year...
The Convener
Con
Thank you very much. I get to ask the first question. What lessons did you learn from your first strategy document about how to implement your second strateg...
Dr Dixon
I will start and then hand over to Mark Roberts. Our first strategy was written when we had been operating for only six months. It was a good strategy; it wa...
The Convener
Con
Mark, do you want to come in on that?
Mark Roberts (Environmental Standards Scotland)
I do not think that there is much more to add. The key learning from my point of view was the need to have a greater degree of focus, as Richard Dixon said, ...
The Convener
Con
Looking forward to the work in the areas that you want to concentrate on—some is proactive and some is reactive—how will you make sure that you spend enough ...
Mark Roberts
I think that public bodies have got used to us being here. ESS was a new organisation, and our function did not entirely replicate what went on previously, p...
The Convener
Con
You are saying that public bodies have got used to your existence—I think that that is the expression that you used—but you are pretty sure that they have no...
Mark Roberts
I do not think that they have become too comfortable. I imagine that, if representatives from the public authorities that we scrutinise were here, they would...
The Convener
Con
That is good. I will bring in Michael Matheson.
Michael Matheson
SNP
Let us turn to your enforcement role. Given your experience to date, it would be helpful to get a sense of how you are finding the approach that you are taki...
Mark Roberts
We were set up under the 2021 act, which requires us to seek agreement with public authorities through a process of informal resolution. It may be helpful to...
Michael Matheson
SNP
That is helpful. I presume that you will build experience of using informal resolution as you go. However, it will create additional workload in that you wil...
Mark Roberts
That is an excellent question. As the chair said in his opening statement, informal resolution is becoming a significant element of our work, given the amoun...
Michael Matheson
SNP
In my experience, more new things tend to come into your inbox than issues that go away. I presume that getting the programme management structure in place w...
Mark Roberts
Yes, that is critical. That is why I have put that structure in place. It is not only for the work in response to representations received; we continually mo...
Michael Matheson
SNP
Richard Dixon, is the board satisfied that those in the executive team are able to manage that challenge and that they can put in place project management ar...
Dr Dixon
Yes, we are. We have discussed it a number of times. We are keen to get reassurance that the resources are in place, that the scale of the challenge is recog...
Mark Ruskell
Green
I want to ask about the two new scrutiny functions. The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill will grant powers in relation to scrutinising the nature targets,...
Mark Roberts
We are taking on the function of the independent scrutineer of the Scottish Government’s progress towards meeting the statutory nature targets. It might be h...
Mark Ruskell
Green
Right now, beyond being an observer in the room, is part of your role to ensure that the process of target setting is on track, or are you waiting to see wha...
Mark Roberts
To a certain extent, we are observing the process of development, but we have to wait until the targets are set. The most important thing is that the bill’s ...
Mark Ruskell
Green
We are almost there already, to be honest. What about the local climate change reports?
Mark Roberts
As the committee might recall, those stemmed from our improvement report about local authorities’ climate change reporting, as I just discussed with the depu...
Mark Ruskell
Green
You will be aware of the committee’s conversation with the UK Climate Change Committee about the draft climate change plan. I am interested in your memorandu...
Mark Roberts
Our memorandum of understanding is quite a high-level document about where we will share information and collaborate. Practically, we have regular exchanges ...
Mark Ruskell
Green
What would be your next actions on that? I remember your submissions about what a good climate change plan looks like, which were useful for the committee as...
Mark Roberts
We are not actively in discussion with those bodies at the moment, but as Richard Dixon said in introducing the strategy, climate change is one of our priori...
Mark Ruskell
Green
I will move on to how you are able or not able to deal with individual cases and complaints. You have probably had a couple from my office, not about ESS—not...