Strategy meeting - 24 October 2023
The fifty-third meeting of the Strategy Board took place on Tuesday 24 October 2023 in the Boardroom, Angus Smith Building, 6 Parklands Avenue, Eurocentral, Holytown, ML1 4WQ.
- Bob Downes (Chair)
- Fran van Dijk
- Martin Hill
- Craig Hume
- Harpreet Kohli
- Julie Hutchison
- Philip Matthews
- Nicole Paterson (CEO)
- Lorna Bryce - Lead Manager, Communications (items 1-13).
- Lin Bunten - Acting Chief Officer, Compliance (items 1-13).
- Scott Crawford - Compliance & Beyond Senior Manager (item 8 only).
- Paul Dale - Unit Manager (Operations) (item 10 only).
- Sheri Dick - Senior Administrative Officer.
- Laura Hamilton - Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive.
- David Harley - Acting Chief Officer, Circular Economy (items 1-13).
- Martin Marsden - Head of Environmental Quality (item 9 only).
- Bridget Marshall - Acting Chief Officer, Performance and Innovation (items 1-13).
- Jennifer McWhirter - Clerk to the Board.
- Angela Milloy - Chief Officer Finance (items 1-13).
- Mike Montague - Specialist 1 (item 9 only).
- Kirsty Paterson - Chief Officer, People and Property (items 1-13).
- David Pirie - Executive Director, Evidence and Flooding (items 1-13).
- Sandra Tough - Head of Function (Permitting) (item 8 only).
Apologies for absence were received from Nicola Gordon and Martin Grey.
The order of business was as outlined on the agenda.
No declarations of interests were made.
The minutes of the meeting held on 27 June 2023 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting with minor amendments.
The Clerk to the Board advised that all actions were closed.
Fran van Dijk advised that she had attended a Coal Authority event 27 September 2023 on coal mines after closures which she found very interesting. She asked that it is noted that SEPA needs to be involved when water comes out of coal mines and pollutes rivers as this will have an environmental impact.
The next meeting will be held on 12 December 2023 at 1.00pm in person at ASB. The Board agreed with the proposal to move the Strategy Board meeting into the morning session.
Board members met in private session with the Chief Executive, the Clerk to the Board, the Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive and Senior Administrative Officer.
Chair’s opening remarks
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting including Lorna Bryce in attendance as delegate for Martin Grey, and Sheri Dick and Laura Hamilton assisting the Clerk to the Board.
The Clerk to the Board confirmed that there is no fire alarm test scheduled today and advised that if the alarm goes, please use the fire exit located on the main landing to the right. Assembly points A and B are situated at the rear of the building at the back of the car park. Both signs are clearly marked.
The Chair reported that the morning’s Stakeholder Event went well, the Lab visit was successful, and people were engaged. The Chair also thanked all the staff members who were involved in making the event happen.
The Board agreed that the event had been successful and that going forward it would be beneficial to have more events like this where the Board could interact with staff members and other Agencies. It was also agreed that having another event like this would be a good introduction / training for new Board Members.
The Chair asked for a virtual meeting to be organised as soon as possible with staff who had been involved in dealing with the recent storms (not just the Hydrology team) so that the Board can convey its thanks for their hard work. The meeting date will be set inline with the Chair’s diary, and it was noted that any board member would be welcome to join the meeting. The Clerk to the Board will arrange this meeting and circulate the date to Board Members.
Action: Clerk to the Board.
Matters arising
Action 160 - Future of Work Update – Board Members only session - Financial savings from exiting Silvan House and moving to our South East Regional Hub (Waverley Court) and South East Regional Support Centre (Newbridge) are estimated at £225k per annum. Carbon savings are estimated at 3% of our estate emissions. Proposed closed.
All actions were closed.
Report on Board Seminar 24 October 2023
The Clerk to the Board advised that the Stakeholder engagement session had gone well. A lab tour was provided to start the session off, with the focus moving on to the Corporate Plan priorities of Net Zero, Climate Resilience and Water Environment, ending with an interactive session with staff members from the following units:
- Water Environment Fund (WEF), Alan McCulloch
- Air Quality, Colin Gillespie
- Trans frontier Shipment of Waste, Katie Olley
- Radioactive Substances (Dalgety Bay), Mark Toner
- Enforcement Team, Jen Shearer
- eDNA, Pauline Lang
- Covid Wastewater Treatment, Graeme Cameron.
The stakeholders who attended the event were:
- Tom Campbell, Green Action Trust
- Andy Ford, Cairngorms
- Iain Gulland, Zero Waste Scotland
- Andrew Mackie, Scottish Government
- Clive Mitchell, NatureScot
- Amelia Morgan, Scottish Canals
- Simon Parsons, Scottish Water
- Kevin Quinlan, Scottish Government
- Heather Reid, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs
- Mark Roberts, Environmental Standards Scotland.
The Comments and feedback received will form the next iteration of the Draft Corporate Plan which will be brought back to the Board on 28 November 2023.
Implications of the Integrated Authorisation Framework (IAF) in practice
The Acting Chief Officer for Compliance introduced the report with Scott Crawford, Senior Manager (Permitting), and Sandra Tough, Head of Function (Permitting), in attendance. The purpose of the report was to give the Board an update on the progress and context. IAF has been on the go for some time and embeds the principles from the Better Regulation Task Force 1997, the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (that brought in the statutory purpose), and Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 which covers Radioactive Substances activity and was envisaged to be expanded to cover Water and Waste. It is therefore vital as an organisation to have this IAF in place.
The Board noted that the SEPA timescales for this project is dependent on Scottish Government timescales, however the SEPA team is currently working towards 1 April 2025 for delivering the project. The legislation will give SEPA a huge opportunity and flexibility to change SEPA’s regulatory approach. Scottish Government will be issuing the consultation around the beginning of December 2023. SEPA will also issue a consultation on SEPA’s Regulatory approach around the same time.
In response to a question regarding the appeal process in the new system, it was noted that there was the ability to appeal and recognised that the teams will still have to gather the same level of evidence as they currently do. With regards to cost recovery, SEPA needs to have a sense of awareness of the tools that it has as it moves forward and look at how SEPA builds these charges into the charging scheme. In terms of staff/time savings, it will be quicker and easier to provide Regulatory Notices that companies have to comply with - putting the obligations back to the operator at application stage, - although this can’t be fully quantified at this stage there are ongoing discussions to look at efficiency savings.
The Board thanked the Acting Chief Officer for Compliance and noted the presentation.
Aquaculture – Sea Lice Consultations results
It was noted that the Executive Director for Evidence and Flooding and Acting Chief Officer for Compliance have been working jointly on the Sea Lice Consultation with support including from Martin Marsden, Head of Environmental Quality, and Mike Montague, Specialist I from Environmental Performance, who were in attendance for this item. This session focused on Aquaculture and Sea Lice and feedback received from the second consultation on the Regulatory Framework for the loss of Sea Lice from Marine Fish Farming. The consultation commenced in May 2023 and ended mid-September 2023. The responses received were very varied and the team gave the Board an idea of some of the responses by role-playing. Martin Marsden represented Communities and Fisheries and Mike Montague played the role of a CEO of a Norwegian Aquaculture Company. Martin Marsden then played the role of a SEPA regulator.
In response to a question about closed pens on land for fish farming, the Board noted that this has been explored and that Norway looked at developing that type of closed containment. It was also noted that SEPA sees a longer-term need for this in certain areas, but it is not considered realistic in the short term as there are a lot of challenges such as Energy.
The proportionality of an entire framework derived from this was discussed including in respect of impact recognising that the Salmon Interactions Working Group, which SEPA is part of, came to a similar conclusion as SEPA in respect of this.
The Head of Environmental Quality advised that this consultation was emotive and drew attention to the case that went all the Supreme Court in Norway and the fact that the Scottish Government has followed due process - there were two parliamentary enquiries, there was a partnership group that made recommendations with powers then being given to SEPA. The Board noted that there is regular engagement with Scottish Government.
In conclusion, it was noted that there are 21 high risk sites in Scotland out of 124, which is not disproportionate. There have seven applications received, out of which only one could potentially fall into the serious at-risk category. SEPA and Marine Scotland Science have discussed the adequacy of the models available which are sufficient to make regulatory decisions, and the SEPA team is content that we have the basis for running a regulatory regime.
The Board noted that the SEPA team intent to proceed and stick to the current timetable, of April 2024, and that the legal position is deemed to be clear using existing science but that strong evidence to support decisions is essential.
It was highlighted that the next step for this work will be a meeting with the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) to talk about the direction of travel. After that, the SEPA team will meet with Industry to explain the proposals. This will be followed by discussions with the Fisheries Boards and Trusts and reflect on the response. By the end of November 2023, it is expected that a final decision will be made, and the consultation issued.
The Acting Chief Officer for Compliance advised that the consultation is a Regulatory Framework - this is a SEPA Framework consultation. This is a Framework for applying licensing. In addition, a business impact assessment had been completed. An update will come to the Board meeting in November 2023 following decision being made at CLT.
In response to a question about the Board’s role in this Framework, the Acting Chief Officer for Performance and Innovation advised that preparations are being made for what could happen next including the possibility of judicial review. Further discussion will take place before the Board meeting in November.
Action: Acting Chief Officer Compliance
The Clerk to the Board advised that a revised Scheme of Delegation is coming to the Board in November which links in with the discussion that will take place.
The Board noted paper.
Dalgety Bay update
Paul Dale, the Unit Manager for Radioactive Substances, presented to the Board the conclusion of the work carried out at Dalgety Bay. The following key points were noted:
Background
The contamination was detected by accident in 1990 before SEPA was formed (it was the predecessor body HMIPI).
When SEPA was formed, the duty crossed over from HIMPI to SEPA, however, there were no regulations in place to deal with existing exposure situations/existing legacy sites.
SEPA kept the site under review and undertook an assessment in 2006, which showed that under normal public protection measures the erection of signs was warranty to give members of the public an informed choice that there were risks on the beach.
The regulations came into effect in 2007, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) advised that they would undertake monitoring and remove any contamination sources that were there.
SEPA engaged with the MoD sufficiently in terms of what can be done and how it can be undertaken.
By 2007 SEPA had regulation in place and had the criteria to assess against and was therefore able to undertake surveillance.
In 2010 SEPA undertook monitoring following on from the MoD’s contractor where it became apparent that significant amounts of sources including extremely hazardous sources had been missed
SEPA led the world in producing International Guidance for monitoring Heterogeneous Contamination.
Engagement
Engaging with Stakeholders was crucial to ensure that the advice was followed, this was done by setting up different groups as it was important to take the entire community with us in order to deliver successful remediation.
Introduced public protection measures, monitored and closed off part of the beach due to the risk to human health if exposed to some of the sources.
Published the Radioactive Contaminated Risk Assessment Report and Appropriate Person Report which identified the MoD as the appropriate party who had deposited the contamination.
To date the MoD has not admitted any liability for contaminated deposits. SEPA engaged with MoD and showed them the evidence. The MoD agreed to do this voluntarily and commenced their remediation work.
Lessons learned
The Radioactive Substances Unit is now trying to capture a corporate memory of the success of Dalgety Bay. This will be done by writing a closure report which will detail all of the work that has been done, all of the processes that they have been through to get to the conclusion.
Success
Removing more than 12,000 radioactive sources, including 1,000 radioactive sources under a slipway that was breaking up and would have caused a serious health hazard.
Removal of 6 tonnes of asbestos.
What was a liability has now turned into an asset for the community and the Environment at large.
In response to a question regarding the complexity of the process and whether it would need to be as lengthy a process if it happened again, the Board noted that with the regulations now in place this would reduce the time scale. Conditions have also been put in place at the planning stage which means that sites have to be monitored. There are no other sites like Dalgety Bay in Scotland.
The Board also noted that SEPA would continue to do the monitoring but that if issues were identified i.e., the Rock Armour needs to be replaced, Fife Council would be responsible for that.
The Board noted the update and thanked Paul Dale for his presentation.