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)
Mark Roberts
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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 amount of follow-up that we have to do and the further exchanges that we have with public bodies. We are in the process of establishing a formal programme management function within the organisation, as we have reached a stage and scale where there are so many strands of work.We are currently considering about 29 active representations and following up on a number of past representations. For example, we will soon go back to SEPA to ask for an annual update on its programme of removing physical barriers and weirs from rivers. We agreed a plan with SEPA, and we follow up with it every year. The programme management approach will give us a much more managed way of keeping on top of the resources that are available for all that follow-up work. Informal resolution will absolutely be a growing piece of work, and it will get bigger as time goes on. I hope that, ultimately, some of those issues will go away and be resolved, but it is a significant issue.
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...