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Chief Executive’s Report

Summary

Board Report Number: SEPA 16/23

This paper provides the Board with important updates on significant issues affecting the operating environment of SEPA, highlighting areas of environmental achievement and concern, enforcement action and major partnership activities, as well as business related issues in respect of corporate performance and activity since the last Board meeting on 21 February 2023.

Introduction

As I complete my first six months in post, I am delighted to lead this report with our new branding, incorporating ‘our people’ for the first time. An integral part of our organisational reset, it better aligns to our ‘One SEPA Modernisation’ Programme, which is currently being shared with the whole organisation to enable us all to be part of the Vision for the Future and understand our role in delivery. 

Several key pieces of work have come to fruition over the past two months including the 2023/24 Annual Operating Plan, which will also launch as the first public document with our new SEPA branding. Thanks to all the teams across SEPA who have contributed to the development of delivery plans (x74) which will enable the ‘golden thread’ to visibly run through the organisation and enable each one of our people to clearly see their contribution to delivery of the Agency’s objectives and Statutory Purposes.

We have also agreed with the Agency Board our strategic approach to workspaces ensuring our people have the tools to deliver their roles effectively across Scotland. This provides us with key principles to enable strategic decision making around our estate and workspace provision in line with a modern hybrid employer. The Board will consider today, our Workforce Strategy to ensure we are clear on our current workforce skills and demographics, these we will need for the future and how we develop our people to achieve this.

The Governance Review which commenced in July 2022 and since December has focused on reshaping the CLT (Corporate Leadership Team) is now well established. CLT is operating in a more professional and business-like way to ensure that strategic decisions are made in a timely fashion for the organisation based on a strong recommendation from the experts in the organisation. These are working well and are being further refined to focus on fortnightly formal CLT business meetings and workshops. In a key development to ensure greater transparency, all decisions are now published on a staff hub, running successfully since February 2023.

The Strategic Leadership Team has commenced its own reset, at a now scheduled quarterly meeting of the extended team, enabling both the sharing of progress and input into developing the future, developing positive working relationships, and sharing leadership challenges.

During the last period I have enjoyed meeting more of our people in Perth, Aberdeen, and Fort William, together with teams in Stirling and Angus Smith. The passion and enthusiasm of staff continues to shine through, and the ability to discuss team concerns and opportunities continues to be invaluable. Thanks to our people for their support and honesty in these discussions.

I have also greatly enjoyed meeting more partners and stakeholders, too many to name, discussing the potential opportunities to advance Scotland’s response to the climate and nature crises. I have been particularly struck in these meetings in the reflections of partners on the difference that SEPA makes in delivering for Scotland, something we have tried to capture within the Annual Operating Plan for 23/24.

Launching the 2023 VIBES Awards in March has been a particular highlight, with the opportunity to meet many of Scotland’s business leaders pioneering best environmental practice.

During the last two months, I have been reflecting on the reality and scale of the impact the SEPA teams have in delivering for Scotland’s environment. Some of these successes are outlined in the attached paper, but there are many more, too numerous to mention. Two worthy of note are the launch of Scotland’s 3-day flood forecast on the 8th of February by the Minister for Environment, Mairi McAllan and myself, and the significant work of a range of staff on supporting Scottish Government and partners towards Go-Live of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme.

As the Agency resets and reshapes to ensure it can be effective in meeting future challenges, we can be proud of what we are delivering today, for the people of Scotland. There remains much to do, but today’s report to the Agency Board highlights some of that progress.

Regulation

Dalgety Bay (CLT lead: David Harley)

Dalgety Bay in Fife was a former Ministry of Defence site and, since the 1990’s, radioactive contamination has been found on the foreshore. 

In 2010, we closed part of the beach because of a significant increase in the number of radioactive sources found and their potential to cause harm. Following extensive discussions with the Ministry of Defence and the identification of them as the appropriate person, the Ministry of Defence agreed to fully fund the remediation of the site at a cost of over £10 million.

In April 2023, the Ministry of Defence’s contractor will start the final stages of remediation of Dalgety Bay. Once complete, we will verify the work has been done to the required standard.

We will publish a report detailing the work undertaken and whether current protection measures (including closure of part of the beach) can be lifted. Progress on the work has been closely followed by people in the local area as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (the United Nation’s watchdog). 

Illegal Activity Partnership Working and Intervention in Renfrewshire (CLT lead: Lin Bunten)

In response to continued occurrence of illegal deposit of waste in the Renfrewshire area, we worked with several partner agencies, including Police Scotland, Revenue Scotland and HMRC, to carry out unplanned inspections on 21 February 2023.

In addition to the inspections carried out, we went door to door within the local area to appeal to local residents and businesses to be vigilant to help tackle environmental crime.

As part of a wider interventions approach, we issued a press release that included the details of the day of action on 21 February and how to report environmental crime. This was published by several national online publications.

Crosswinds Planning Appeal Refused (CLT lead: David Harley)

Scottish Ministers have refused an appeal by Crosswind Developments Ltd against Edinburgh Council for its failure to determine an application for planning permission. Crosswinds is a 30-hectare site with proposed uses for commercial premises and 2500 homes. 

We objected to the planning application in respect of flood risk management and water quality. The development was found to be contrary to several policies in the Council’s Local Development Plan and was therefore refused.

Deposit Return Scheme (CLT lead: Lin Bunten)

With the launch of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme approaching, we are expecting an increase in related Permitting work. 

Some large retailers will require new Waste Management Licences if they decide to store returned bottles in bulk in a central location before they are collected for recycling. This may be more efficient and is likely to reduce the amount of transportation required.

With the changes to the recycling model, other existing sites may also look to change or surrender their licences as they will no longer be receiving the bottles for recycling. We have been attending fortnightly meetings with Circularity Scotland and Biffa regarding the implementation of the Deposit Return Scheme.

Waste Management Licence Exemption (CLT lead: Lin Bunten)

Scottish Water has contacted us regarding the possible treatment of effluent arising from the cruise ships which are currently being used to help house Ukrainian refugees.

The ships, which are docked at Leith, were transporting effluent to Glasgow for treatment. We agreed to allow the material to be taken to the much nearer Seafield sewage treatment works and discharged into an appropriate point.

In order for this activity to take place, we agreed it could be undertaken under a Waste Management Licensing exemption.

Water Permitting (CLT lead: Lin Bunten)

After significant pre-application engagement, we received an application for a licence for a discharge of treated sewage to groundwater from a caravan park development at Northbank Park near St Andrews.

This site was challenging in terms of location due to both the absence of any suitably sized watercourse to discharge into and due to the scale of the development. In addition, the development is currently served by a cesspit in the absence of a suitable drainage option. This is unsustainable in the longer term for the site's expansion.

The consultant acting for the site has designed a novel system incorporating conventional secondary treatment, reed beds, lined willow beds and final discharge into an unlined willow bed soakaway.

After assessing the proposal, we made the decision to grant the licence. This has been acknowledged to be a very positive outcome given the challenges of the site.

Enforcement Undertaking (CLT lead: Lin Bunten)

On 28 October 2022, we accepted an Enforcement Undertaking from a Dunblane famer as summarised below.

• Contribution to Forth Rivers Trust to run “fish in the classroom” of £1250.
• Contribution to Allan Water Angling Association for improving access to the river of £1250.
• Article in the NFUS leader on the pollution incident to raise awareness.
• Contribution to SEPA costs of £1500.

The undertaking came because of a complaint we received on 17 August 2021 regarding slurry pollution in a watercourse near Dunblane. The farmer cooperated fully in stopping the discharge once he had been made aware of the pollution incident. The source of the pollution was traced to a lined slurry lagoon which had been ripped during the mixing of slurry prior to land spreading.

Malawi-Scotland Regulatory Partnership (CLT lead: Bridget Marshall)

Recognising that environmental challenges are global, and know no boundaries, we have been continuing our international work, most recently delivering support to colleagues in Malawi.

We established the Malawi-Scotland Regulatory Partnership in 2018 with funding from the Scottish Government’s Hydronation initiative. The partnership continues to provide direct regulator-to-regulator capacity building between us and Malawi’s key environmental institutions – The National Water Resources Authority, Malawi Environment Protection Authority, and the Ministry of Water and Sanitation.

The SEPA team travelled to Malawi in February delivering several workshops, field visits and high-level engagements with counterparts in Malawi. These ranged from operations to board and director level.

The trip has continued to reinforce the value of this partnership with a strong dialogue for ongoing support and a clear opportunity to grow our contribution to tackling environmental pressures on a global stage.

Additionally, the MSRP has also become a regular showcase at Scotland’s annual World Water Day conference. This year in particular, Minister Mairi McAllan’s opening remarks reiterated the importance of sharing Scotland’s knowledge, expertise and innovation beyond Scotland, and specifically the ongoing role of the MSRP in peer-to-peer support, partnership and multisectoral collaboration.

Flooding

Scottish Flood Risk Management Conference (CLT lead: David Pirie)

The Scottish Flood Risk Management Conference took place in Perth at the end of February with a focus on ‘Water Resilient Places.’ This is the first time since 2020 that the conference had been held in-person, with over 10 of our staff presenting or organising workshops at the event. Many other SEPA staff and teams also attended, and assorted items were presented over two days, including: ideas and updates for the upcoming Scottish Government Flooding Strategy; policy and guidance; surface water management; funding and flood warning; and community resilience.

A clear theme throughout was that climate change compels us to work together to ensure that Scotland’s places continue to thrive despite the heightened risk brought by rising sea levels and more intense and frequent rainstorms. Staff found the event extremely useful to reconnect with partners and form new working relationships.

Scottish Flood Forecast Launch (CLT lead: David Pirie)

At the Scottish Flood Risk Management Conference, we presented the new Scottish Flood Forecast alongside our Met Office partners.

It was officially launched to the public on 8 February following a six -month trial period, and it has been developed through successful partnership working between the Met Office and us.

The Scottish Flood Forecast is a new three-day flood forecast available from our website. It is produced alongside the five-day Flood Guidance Statement sent to Category 1 and 2 responders, a product that has been available for over 10 years. The webpage illustrates the forecast at a national level, colouring up the map with yellow, amber and red.

We followed the Scottish Government’s customer led, service design approach to develop the new service, and we will continue to follow this approach when developing the next phase of this project.

Interim Coastal Change Adaptation Plan Guidance (CLT lead: David Pirie)

We presented the Scottish Government's interim coastal change adaptation plan guidance at the Scottish Flood Risk Management Conference. Climate change will affect coastal erosion and coastal flood risk. It is expected that this could challenge the viability of many coastal communities and assets, so work to plan adaptation to future situations needs to start now.

We coordinated the development of the guidance with the input of a wide range of stakeholders. It includes how to use a dynamic adaptive pathways approach to progress from where we are now to where we need to be in terms of coastal resilience. There is an emphasis on community involvement and working to protect and enhance natural defences such as beaches and dunes. 

The guidance is available on the Dynamic Coast website.

Women in Flood Risk Management (CLT lead: David Pirie)

We facilitated a social event for the Women in Flood Risk Management network. This is a network of professionals set up to support and connect women working across the flood risk management sector in Scotland.

The network is focused on women and those who line-manage them, but this is within a broader context of striving for gender equality for everyone, so membership is open to all. The network is always looking to expand and welcomes new members to join, connect and share experiences. There will be a series of online events throughout the rest of the year and the successful mentoring programme continues to grow.

River Carron (Falkirk) Flood Warning Scheme (CLT lead: David Pirie)

The new River Carron (Falkirk) Flood Warning Scheme is now live. This followed the completion of work in March to develop and integrate the Carron flood forecasting model into our flood early warning system and incorporate the associated Flood Warning Areas into our flood warning dissemination system.

We delivered training of our Flood Warning Duty Officers on 28 March. We are now able to forecast and subsequently warn both the public and partners about potential flooding from the River Carron. In total, the scheme will benefit around 1500 properties within six flood prone areas along the river in Falkirk. The River Carron has flooded five times since 2006 with reported impacts to residential and commercial properties, roads including motorway access, and a commercial bus depot on Stirling Road. The downstream end of the river is tidally influenced which brings a dual risk to receptors in this area. Customers who had previously only been able to receive coastal flood warnings at Grangemouth now have the benefit of both river and coastal flood warnings.

Throughout the project we have worked closely with Falkirk Council to ensure we provide local communities with the right information to protect themselves from flooding. This engagement will continue over the summer as we prepare for a formal public launch of the service. We will raise flood awarenessand promote sign up to our service around September 2023, ahead of next winter’s flooding season.

NERC EMERGE project workshop in Scotland (CLT lead: David Pirie)

We are a partner in a project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) called EMERGE. This project identifies hazards and emergent risks in Northern Europe’s remote and vulnerable regions. It is a partnership with the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, the Icelandic Meteorological Office, British Geological Survey, Newcastle University, and lead partner Strathclyde University.

In March, it was Scotland’s turn to host a workshop organised by Strathclyde University and us. Delegates from Transport Scotland, Network Rail Scotland, Met Office, Scottish Flood Forum, and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service came together to discuss and share interests around hazard early warning, resilience, and response in rural Scotland. 

We presented work on the National Flood Risk Assessment and the recent rapid Satellite mapping of the Aberdeenshire floods of November 2022. We also hosted a visit to the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service for Norwegian scientists who are developing their flood warning capability. 

Hervé Colleuille, Head of the Forecast of Flood and Landslide Hazards in the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate was keen to use the EMERGE project as a knowledge sharing platform, “We are particularly interested to learn from the flood warning system operating by SEPA in Scotland. Norway has quite close geological and meteorological conditions, the same amount of population for an area four times  larger. The Scottish well-functioning flood warning system is a model and a source of inspiration for us in Norway.”

Innovative flow measurement using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (CLT lead: David Pirie)

Capturing flow data, particularly during floods, is extremely challenging and can result in loss or damage of equipment and present a safety hazard to people. We have been working to develop an innovative approach which complements our established working practices and allows us to capture flow data without approaching or deploying our equipment in swollen watercourses.

Test drone flights have started using suitably qualified unmanned Aerial Vehicle pilots from across the organisation who planned and executed the flights. The images were processed by Hydrometry experts and the results from a recent test at Almondell are shown below, where the calculated flow was within 0.5% of the expected value.

Integrating Tools for Air Pollution Assessment – UK AERIUS (CLT lead: David Pirie)

Air pollution, in particular nitrogen deposition, is a widespread pressure on designated habitats in the UK such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Local Nature Reserves. Poor air quality is also considered the biggest environmental risk to human health.  

The assessment of the risk to habitats and the potential exceedance of air quality standards and objectives are used to inform planning and regulatory decisions about new emission sources, changes to existing ones, and the combined effects of emissions sources.

The Scottish Government’s Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy, set out the commitment for us to develop and deliver the National Modelling Framework. The Framework identified the need for a regional tool for the assessment of air quality through the planning and development process. The Inter-agency Air Pollution Group coordinated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, has been working on the development of UK AERIUS. This is an online tool which will support risk assessment of air pollution effects on ecosystems.

Under direction from Scottish Ministers, we scoped out the requirements for incorporating the regional air quality assessment tool within AERIUS. This allows us to assess air quality impacts based on human health standards. We have provided funding to support air quality assessment component of the tool, which will be freely available. 

Grants (CLT lead: David Pirie)

Building on collaborative work over several years with the universities of Stirling and Glasgow, with engagement with the Scottish Government’s subsidy control team, SEPA has awarded two grants to partners to drive forward work improving our use of satellite data and the internet of things technology to protect the environment.

The first grant is with Scotland's International Environment Centre, University of Stirling . It supports work over the next three years to develop a cloud-based datacentre to accommodate our immediate needs in relation to improving Scotland’s Environment website’s mapping capabilities to include various Earth Observation (satellite) data and near real time ground sensor data.

The second grant is with CENSIS (Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems), Scotland’s Innovation centre for sensor and imaging systems, based at the University of Glasgow. It supports work to help engage the farming community in the Eden catchment in Fife. This catchment was on Red drought status last year, with recognised potentially serious commercial and crop production implications. We will deploy a set of river level sensors throughout the catchment to collect and share water resource status information. This work aims to learn what additional measurements farmers need about their own water use and how new  sensor technologies can help to collectively manage the finite water resources available, and hence reduce their risk exposure while protecting the environment. 

Organisation

Resilience (CLT lead: Bridget Marshall)

We are a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act. Seven training sessions called Resilience Matters are scheduled be held, raising general awareness of resilience arrangements and structures within SEPA and across Scotland. A Gold Command course will be held on 16 May and other leadership training opportunities with external partners have been arranged.

Several large-scale exercises and workshops are also in development for delivery in the coming months. Externally, we are participating in exercises including a national Power Outage and an offsite Control of Major Accident Hazard (COMAH) exercise at a large industrial plant. In preparation for the World Cycling Championships in August, we will be working closely with partners to deliver a safe and secure event. This event will include thirteen separate cycling disciplines held over eleven days, involving over 8000 athletes, 100, 000 ticket sales and a world-wide audience in the millions.

We are co-ordinating several exercises and workshops in relation to reservoir breach, Air Hazard Emergency Response (AHERS), nuclear emergencies and notifiable animal health disease.

Future of Work (CLT lead: Jennifer Russell)

We have now re-opened all our buildings, except for Stirling and Fraserburgh, giving our staff the option of hybrid working. Public access to our offices is still restricted to arranged access only.

Finance (CLT lead: Angela Milloy)

Budget 2023-2024

Our budget for 2023-2024 was approved by our Agency Board in February. Budget managers will be tasked with providing Finance with accurate budget profiling to enable maximum use of funds. Work has also begun on remodelling reporting to map finances to service outcomes.

Pay Offer 2022-2023

Annually SEPA negotiates a pay offer with its nominated union, UNISON. Negotiations for the 2022-2023 pay offer have taken place, however the offer was rejected by members on 14 February.

As the monies from Scottish Government could not be carried forward; to avoid a pay award becoming unaffordable and to minimise employees being put at a tax detriment, we took the decision to implement the pay offer without trade union agreement.

We continue to have ongoing dialogue with UNISON. The back pay was processed by payroll to ensure the pay award is paid in March 2023 salaries.

Web payments

A new web payments service, which allows customers to make secure online payments for applications, renewals, special waste consignment notes, outstanding invoices etc, was successfully implemented on 1st February 2023.

The new service is provided by HeyCentric and replaces the old Agresso Web Payment Services solution which was withdrawn from service. The new service provides Finance Department with a more streamlined and efficient mechanism for receiving and reconciling payments received.

Staff awareness and engagement (CLT lead: Jennifer Russell)

In March we recognised International Women's Day 2023 and Neurodiversity Celebration week.

A range of female leaders from across different areas and specialisms within SEPA gave their thoughts and experiences on inclusion and equity in the organisation to mark International Women’s Day.

They highlighted how things have changed within the organisation since they joined, such as an improving gender balance at manager level and more recently a greater recognition of people’s unique needs and responsibilities outside of work which can affect access to opportunities.

They also spoke about how the organisation can continue to make a more inclusive and equitable working environment, ensuring staff are supported and have access to mentoring networks.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2023 (13-19 March) is about recognising those who think differently. When it comes to inclusion, neurodiversity refers to a world where neurological differences are recognised and respected as all other human variations.

Staff were encouraged to attend one of a range of online events being hosted to find out more about neurodiversity. A series of events were held online, which staff could go along to covering topics such as the benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace and supporting neurodiverse colleagues.

Lived Experience groups (CLT lead: Jennifer Russell)

Lived Experience Groups form part of our Equality and Human Rights approach, helping us think about the diverse needs that people have and the best way to meet their needs. They bring together staff members with shared characteristics and experience and provide a safe forum to raise issues that they have identified in the organisation. They also provide the organisation with an audience to consult on new policies, projects, and services.

We already have several lived experience groups established, including one for EU staff, digital accessibility and the group for staff members experiencing long-covid symptoms. We are working to expand the membership of the Digital Accessibility Lived Experience Group and hav e introduced a new Black Employees Lived Experience Group which is also seeking volunteers.

Lived Experience Groups will report into the Equality Oversight Group. This provides the Lived Experience Groups with a route to raise the issues identified and seek resolution.

VIBES Awards 2023 (CLT lead: David Harley)

The 2023 VIBES Awards launched on 1 March, inviting business who are demonstrating the link between environmental and economic success to entering the 25th annual VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards this spring.

The awards recognise those who champion sustainability by reducing pressure on the planet’s resources and winning schemes have focused on everything from accelerating action towards net zero, embracing circularity and increasing biodiversity.

This year will feature 3 new categories; the Just Transition Scotland Award, the Vision in Business Scotland Award and the STV Green Fund Award.

Applications are open until mid-April, and then colleagues from across the organisation will take part in award judging.