Establishing ESS Monitoring and Evaluation Function

Tender description

1. The purpose of this commission is to develop detailed advice on how Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) can best carry out its monitoring and evaluation role in respect of compliance with environmental law by public authorities, and the effectiveness of environmental law or its application. 2. ESS is being established as a new non-ministerial office to monitor Scottish public authorities’ compliance with, and the effectiveness of, environmental law following the UK’s departure from the EU. It will be independent of the Scottish Government and will be responsible for ensuring that public authorities in Scotland comply with environmental law – including bodies and agencies such as SEPA, NatureScot & Marine Scotland – who are responsible for collating and publishing much of the data on which ESS is likely to rely to fulfil its remit. 3. This contract therefore offers a unique opportunity to be involved in informing the establishment of post-Brexit environmental governance body arrangements in Scotland, and the shaping of how ESS goes about fulfilling its responsibilities for monitoring and evaluating compliance with, and the effectiveness of, environmental law. 4. A small transition team has been appointed to work with the Chair and Board to help establish ESS – ready to take on the statutory functions and powers provided for it in the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 (the Continuity Act) later this year. A specialist resource is required to work alongside the transition team and the Board to develop options and proposals for: a) how ESS can best access and analyse the data and other evidence (e.g. specialist scientific knowledge and expert opinion) it will require to successfully carry out its role; and b) what capacity and resources (i.e. staff and or budget) ESS will require to have available to it in the longer term to support the analytical work necessary to carry out its functions effectively.