Annual Operating Plan (AOP) 2024-2025 and Corporate Plan 2024 - 2027
SEPA is the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scotland’s principal environmental regulator. Our role is to make sure that the environment and human health are protected, to ensure that Scotland’s natural resources and services are used as sustainably as possible and contribute to sustainable economic growth (as set out in the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014). Our role is wide-ranging, including environmental regulation, mitigating, and adapting to climate change, monitoring and reporting on the state of our environment, raising awareness of environmental issues, engaging with the public through citizen science projects, and resolving environmental harms.
The broad framework within which SEPA operates is set out in a framework document with the Scottish Government. This document states that SEPA will prepare a Corporate Plan (CP) setting out its strategic aims, objectives and targets. The CP informs the development of a separate Annual Operating Plan (AOP) for each financial year, which will include key targets and milestones for the year immediately ahead. Previous CPs and AOPs have had their own Equality Impact Assessment (EqIAs).
This EqIA applies to the CP 2024-2027 and AOPs that fall underneath it. The CP sets out five strategic priorities Net zero, Climate resilience, Water environment, Resource efficiency, Business environmental performance. The AOP explains the key activities that SEPA will carry out each year to deliver this CP. Other policies, strategies, programmes, and services that contribute to delivery of the CP/AOPs are required to have their own Equality Impact Assessment. We are committed to carrying out our equality duties and have developed the plans with them in mind as well as our internal equality outcomes.
The CP and AOPs have/will be prepared in line with the SEPA/Scottish Government Framework Agreement, including alignment with Scotland’s National Performance Framework and relevant government strategies such as the Environment Strategy for Scotland and the Economic Strategy for Scotland.
20/03/2024
Donna Brodie, Anne Conrad, and Fiona Carlin.
Kirsty-Louise Campbell, Chief Officer: Governance, Performance, and Engagement.
Revised for current CP 2024 to 2027 and AOPs that fall underneath that period.
The priorities and areas of focus set out in the CP/AOP may impact on SEPAs main stakeholders which are Scottish Government, public bodies, partner agencies, Scottish businesses, NGOS, trade associations, communities, the general public and SEPA employees. It will not specifically target particular groups or sections of society, but the broad actions identified through corporate planning should benefit all of Scotland’s people by protecting and improving Scotland’s precious environment.
To inform the content of the CP/AOP both internal and external engagement is necessary. Internal engagement with the Agency Board, leadership teams and staff has taken place through topic-based sessions. To enable external feedback on the Corporate Plan several stakeholder events were held with Partner Agencies, Scottish Government and other stakeholders. The current AOP areas of focus have been developed through active participation of SEPAs senior leaders. Where additional engagement on the specific areas of focus has/will take place - this will be further described in the EqIA for individual areas of focus. Engagement will continue to inform the corporate planning process, especially for future AOPs.
17/04/2024
Yes
Amongst your group of stakeholders are there any people who belong to the protected characteristic groups who may be impacted, either positively or negatively?
Analysis of SEPA employees
The CP/AOPs 2024-2029 impacts on all SEPA employees as it sets overall direction for SEPA and all employees will be involved in its delivery.
SEPA's Equality Mainstreaming Report 2023 breaks down SEPA employees by protected characteristics that information was available for. The data will not be repeated here. Analysis of this data by protected characteristic related to age, gender, disability and ethnicity has been used when considering the impact on staff for the development of the CP/AOPs itself and the planning of internal engagement with staff.
SEPAs mainstreaming report also lists our four Equality outcomes for 2022 to 2026. These four outcomes were considered in developing the CP/AOP and are noted below:
- Outcome 1 - We have increased the number of people from currently underrepresented groups in our applicants, our staff and those who progress within the organisation.
- Outcome 2 - People with lived experience of inequality, related to a protected characteristic or socioeconomic status, access and use SEPA’s services without barriers.
- Outcome 3 - Staff with lived experience of inequality and barriers, and with a wide variety of needs, feel listened to and respected as SEPA meets those needs.
- Outcome 4 - We have decreased our gender pay gap and occupational segregation
The CP priority areas and the AOP focus areas are very high level. They indicate the projects and strategies that will be prioritised for SEPA for the next years and provides an overview of strategic priorities. As such, it is not possible to identify any positive or negative impacts from these on any of the protected characteristic for SEPA staff. Consequently, strategies, policies, processes, plans and services etc that set out how the strategic intentions will be delivered, will need to undertake specific EqIAs to identify and understand negative or positive impacts on the protected groups for SEPA staff and how to mitigate against them.
An example of a strategy that will be particularly important for SEPA staff and that we have committed to developing through our AOP is the People Strategy for SEPA. The People Strategy is about having the right values, skills and resources for excellent service delivery. This includes a diverse and inclusive workplace. The EqIA for this strategy should ensure that a positive impact for staff that fall within the protected characteristics is realised. The protected characteristics often intersect and this should be taken into account in the EqIA.
Analysis of external stakeholders
It is important to consider the impact that the CP/AOPs might have on the wider communities and audience in Scotland. An assumption was made that the external stakeholder groups identified in question 6 were not different from the Scottish population in terms of the protected characteristics. Data for the protected groups was gathered for Scotland from other EqIAs such as Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation Equality Impact Assessment (Record and Results) and Equality Impact Assessment and Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment.
Our previous EqIA for the CP and AOPs 2017-2022 also outlined the best estimates at the time for the prevalence of the protected characteristics for the general population of Scotland. Data was considered for each of the protected groups. Similar to the SEPA staff cohort, we found it difficult to identify impacts. Again, the CP priority areas and the AOP focus areas are very high level. They indicate the projects and strategies that will be prioritised for SEPA for the next years and is an overview of strategic priorities. Because of this it is not possible to identify any positive or negative impacts from the strategic outcomes it outlines on protected groups. Consequently, strategies, policies, processes, plans and services etc that set out how the strategic intentions will be delivered, will need to be undertake specific EqIAs to identify and understand negative or positive impacts on the protected groups and how to mitigate against them.
As outlined in our equality mainstreaming report. Outcome 2 - People with lived experience of inequality, related to a protected characteristic or socioeconomic status, access and use SEPA’s services without barriers. We have ensured that we have considered the protected groups when we make the CP/AOPs available to our external communities. This applies to how we publish and make available any external publication and as such this is not unique to this EqIA and therefore this has not been considered when looking at recording impact against the protected groups.
For example, digital technology has only become pervasive in our society in approximately the last 30 years. It is therefore possible to conclude that people over the age of 40 would not have had the same exposure to digital technology as younger people. This could potentially lead to older people being at a disadvantage when accessing our new CP or AOP on our website. Despite this evidence, it is predicted that the impact on older people will be minor. Our CP and AOP are and will be available digitally on SEPA’s website for viewing at any time by anyone. All our corporate documents are published taking into account accessibility. Hard copies of documents are also available if preferred and required and can be picked up from the SEPA offices or posted out. Our CP and AOP are published on SEPA’s website and meet accessibility requirements. If alternative formats are required these can be requested through equalities@sepa.org.uk.
Below is data from the Scottish Household survey which outlines that climate change concern is variable amongst groups with protected characteristics. This information is included here for reference. However, again the CP/AOP priorities are too high level to see how this data would lead to taking action in terms of impact on the protected groups. This information should be considered in EqIAs that specifically deal with strategies and projects that fall under the ‘net zero’ and ‘climate resilience’ priorities of CP and AOPs.
Source: Scottish Household Survey 2019 (Last updated: September 2020).
Concern about climate change is greater in younger age groups:
- In 2019 adults aged 75 and over were the least likely to state that they believed climate change to be an immediate and urgent problem, compared to other age groups.
- In 2019, 69% of those aged 16-24, 67% of those aged 25-34, 72% of those aged 35-44, 72% of those aged 45-59 and 68% of those aged 60-74 believed that climate change is an immediate and urgent problem, compared with 56% of those aged 75 and over.
Adults living in the most deprived areas less likely to visit the outdoors:
- In 2019, 43% of adults in the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland visited the outdoors at least once a week, compared to 66% of adults in the 20% least deprived areas.
Adults with a long term illness or disability less likely to view climate change as an immediate and urgent problem than those without:
- In 2018 people with a long term illness or disability were less likely to view climate change as an immediate and urgent problem as people without (60% compared to 67%). This may reflect that older age groups, which are more likely to have long-term illness or disability, are less likely to view climate change as an immediate and urgent problem.
Adults with a long-term illness or disability are less likely to visit the outdoors:
- In 2019, for adults with a long standing illness or disability 43% visited the outdoors for leisure or recreation at least once a week, and 24% did not visit the outdoors at all. For adults with no long standing illness or disability these proportions were, respectively, 62% and 6%.
Protected groups - Record of impact (positive and negative)
| Protected groups | Positive | Negative | Neutral |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Yes | ||
| Disability | Yes | ||
| Gender reassignment | Yes | ||
| Marriage and civil partnership | Yes | ||
| Pregnancy and maternity | Yes | ||
| Race | Yes | ||
| Religion or belief | Yes | ||
| Sex | Yes | ||
| Sexual orientation | Yes |
Additional impact assessments
Islands Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) - SEPA has determined under S8 of the Act that there are no relevant implications.
SEPA as a public authority is obliged to ensure that our decisions and actions align with the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights. The CP/AOPs 2024-2027 sets overall direction for SEPA and all employees will be involved in its delivery. It is important to consider the impact that the CP/AOPs might have on the wider communities and audience in Scotland as well as the possible impacts on Human Rights.