Commercial Services Strategy
Foreword
SEPA is changing
We have a statutory purpose to protect and improve the environment (environmental success) in ways that, as far as possible, create health and well-being benefits (social success) and sustainable economic growth (economic success) and a new one Planet Prosperity approach (Our Regulatory Strategy) which aims to reflect the challenges that all nations face of reducing the over-use of the planet's natural resources.
To deliver our statutory purpose with the greatest impact, we will need to innovate more, collaborate more and continue to invest in our skills and capabilities. this is why we are launching our new Commercial Services Strategy.
this strategy marks the beginning of an ambitious new direction for the Agency. We will provide a variety of innovative new products and services. These will contribute to the delivery of our statutory purpose and raise additional revenue for the Agency, allowing us to invest in ways that will have the greatest benefit for Scotland's people and environment.
We will work with partners to provide a joint approach to delivering our commercial services. By bringing together different skills and expertise we will ensure that our customers receive world-leading products and services.
Scotland is also recognised as a world leader in environmental protection and we will help other nations overcome their environmental challenges and support them in creating a one planet economy.
In the information that follow, you will find our strategy for making all this happen and learn about areas and avenues that SEPA is considering for future commercialisation.
Allan Reid - Director of Commercial Services
Terry A'Hearn - Chief Executive
Bob Downes - Chair
Our commercial services strategy - what is it about?
First and foremost, our commercial services strategy is about raising additional revenue for the Agency through the development and provision of new products and services. This, in turn, will allow us to invest in the services that SEPA provides for Scotland as well as accelerate SEPA and Scotland's journey towards a one planet economy.
It is also about building Scotland's reputation as a world leader in environmental protection on the global stage, establishing lasting relationships and sharing best practice with other nations. Environmental challenges and climate change are not confined within international boundaries so SEPA needs to operate at both local and global level.
SEPA has a broad range of expertise across the length and breadth of Scotland and our approach to regulation and flooding is acclaimed internationally. SEPA also collects and analyses a large and diverse range of data on Scotland's environment that ensures that robust environmental evidence is at the centre of decision making.
Taking this into account, our focus will again align with our statutory purpose, organisational characteristics and strengths and deliver in four core areas:
- Consultancy
- Assets
- Data
- Grant funding
Consultancy
The world requires increasingly sophisticated solutions to today's complex environmental challenges. SEPA will provide a diverse range of consultancy, using our experts skills and knowledge, to meet the needs of our clients.
Our consultancy service will operate outwith Scotland and will focus on European Union member states and accession countries as well as Scottish Government priority countries. We aim to grow internationally in areas such as:
- Regulation and enforcement
- Monitoring and scientific services
- Catchment scale solutions
- Flood risk warning and management
- Managing natural resources
SEPA has a professional, highly skilled, engaged and flexible workforce with specialist knowledge and experience across multiple disciplines. We will pull together the best expertise from across the Agency and other partner organisations to meet client demands and provide creative and integrated solutions.
Through our consultancy services, we will provide our staff with new experiences and opportunities to develop, learn from others and create lasting partnerships and relationships.
Added value data
SEPA is data rich. We collect and publish a large and diverse range of data on Scotland's environment. By applying our scientific and operational expertise we can provide bespoke information and evidence that puts the environment at thew core of our client's decision making.
There is an increasing emphasis to release public sector information to facilitate economic growth and provide transparency. We will provide the majority of our data free of charge to the end user under an Open Government Licence.
We will generate revenue from clients seeking customised extraction, handling, analysis and interpretation of data. We will also provide tailored data visualisation tools to meet the requirements of our customers and help them to put the environment at the centre of their decision making.
Marketing our assets
In order to carry out its duties, SEPA has built up a sophisticated and wide range of assets and capabilities. For example, we have a fleet of sea-going vessels, two forensic standard laboratories and leading-edge drone technologies.
We will maximise the return of value from such assets by actively marketing them to private and public sectors. For public sector, we will make the most of opportunities to share our services and assets to provide best value. For the private sector, we will support their business development and growth.
Grant funding
SEPA has a successful track record of being awarded EU Life funding and in delivering multi-award winning environmental projects.
There are many funding schemes available to the public sector and we will increasingly look to secure additional funding through these channels. We will strengthen our current approach to focus on the projects with the biggest impact, align our priorities and work collaboratively with national and international partners across the private, public and third party sectors.
Our efforts will focus on making funding applications that will provide high-value environmental improvements, financial additionality and wider multiple benefits. These projects will align with Scottish policy priorities.
Our principles
All of this work will be underpinned by four fundamental principles:
- We will use partnerships as our principal way of delivering commercial outcomes
- We will be open and transparent
- We will ensure commercial endeavours have no conflict of interest with our regulatory duties