Communications and Engagement Plan

2.1 

This Communications and Engagement Plan (the Plan) has been prepared alongside the development of the main ESS Strategy 2026 – 2031 (the Strategy). The Plan sits underneath the Strategy and successful implementation of the activities in the action plan (set out at Annex 1) will support the organisation in meeting its Strategic Objectives

2.2

ESS’ vision is set out in the Strategy. It states that:

“By holding public authorities to account, we will ensure that Scotland’s people and nature benefit from a high-quality, healthy environment through improved compliance with and better implementation of effective environmental law.”

2.3

To help the organisation achieve its vision for Scotland’s people and nature, the Strategy outlines five key objectives:

• objective 1: securing compliance and improving effectiveness
• objective 2: analysing and investigating environmental concerns
• objective 3: monitoring and scrutinising environmental performance
• objective 4: engaging and communicating effectively
• objective 5: being an efficient and effective organisation

2.4

This Plan outlines the current communication context for ESS. It then goes on to highlight ESS’ communication approach and communication priorities, before setting out a series of actions that will assist in meeting ESS’ main Strategic Objectives. The Plan concludes with information on how we will measure our success.

2.5

When shaping our action plan, we have focused on our communication and engagement priorities and ensured the activities flow directly from them. As a result, each activity in the action plan is aligned with a communication priority and will assist in the fulfilling of one or more of the ESS Strategic Objectives. Our communication approach comprises of the characteristics and principles that will guide how we will communicate and engage with our key audiences and stakeholders.

2.6

This Plan refers to ESS’ external communications only. ESS’ approach and associated actions related to its internal communications and human resources, are set out in the ESS People Strategy 2024-2026.

Figure 1: The relationship between the ESS Communications and Engagement Plan and the ESS Strategy

3.1

Scotland’s communication environment has changed. Scotland’s media has experienced a rapid move away from traditional print newspapers and broadcast towards digital editions and online streaming services. Audiences now consume news from a variety of channels and choose when and where to engage often prioritising control, choice and convenience.

3.2

This change has taken place against a backdrop of growing disinformation online – eroding trust in our public institutions – and uncertainty about the future and reliability of social media platforms. The increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) will also impact future communications for public bodies like ESS.

3.3

Furthermore, communications concerning Scotland’s environment and environmental law must vie for attention in a competitive and crowded news agenda, often dominated by domestic policy pressures and global affairs.

3.4

This context poses both challenges and opportunities for how ESS must communicate and engage with the public. Our communications approach, priorities and action plan have been developed with this context in mind.

3.5

The period of this Plan will cover the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026, where we can expect a significant turnover of MSPs, including on key committees, and a new legislative agenda. A Communications and Engagement Plan that focuses on our four communication priorities will put ESS in a strong position to introduce the organisation to the new parliament and build upon our successful engagement with MSPs over the last four years.

3.6

The period of this Plan will also cover the preparation, integration and delivery of new aspects of scrutiny for ESS. This includes scrutinising local authorities’ delivery and reporting of their climate change duties and acting as a new Independent Review Body for scrutinising progress towards the delivery of Scotland’s statutory targets for nature recovery. The communications team at ESS will have a role to play in communicating these new scrutiny powers to the public and ensuring there is an understanding of ESS’ new functions.

4.1

The ESS Strategy outlines our communications approach and the principles that will guide how we will communicate and engage with the public. The Strategy states our communications approach will be:

• independent
• trusted
• transparent and
• effective

4.2

By placing these principles at the forefront of how we will approach our communications and engagement work, we will strive to ensure that we are a respected and accountable organisation that enjoys public confidence in what we do. More information on what each of these characteristics will mean for how we will conduct our work is provided in the table below.

4.3

We will implement the activities detailed in our action plan (page 14) guided by this communications approach.

4.4

ESS is also committed to using data and statistics in line with the principles of trustworthiness, quality and value set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics, and we have voluntarily adopted the Code to demonstrate the high standards applied to our quantitative work.

5.1

This Plan sets out four main communication and engagement priorities for ESS. Each activity in our action plan will flow directly from one of these four priorities. In doing so, we will organise and give precedence to communication activities that support the communication priorities of our organisation.

5.2

We have chosen to prioritise:

• increasing awareness of who we are and what we do by focusing on our impact
• building and maintaining credible relationships with our key audiences and networks
• ensuring that ESS communications are clear and accessible and put digital first
• empowering our staff and Board to talk confidently on behalf of ESS

Priority one: increase awareness of who we are and what we do by focusing on our impact

5.3

ESS has a positive story to tell about how our work is leading to change when it comes to improving the effectiveness of environmental law, compliance with the law, and how that law is implemented and applied in Scotland. We will prioritise putting this success story front and centre of our communications and by doing so, increase public awareness of our organisation and the good work that we are doing. By undertaking activities that align with this priority, we will work to position ESS as a driver of change and a needed and valued public body in Scotland.

5.4

When communicating our impact, we will focus on work that we have published in our analytical and investigative work and draw upon theories of change to explain how our actions will have a positive long-term impact on the environment. However, we will also look for opportunities to publicly connect ESS to wider issues of environmental law where it is a subject matter we have completed work on or have expertise in. For example, we will seek to broaden public awareness of our responses to consultations and committee appearances in the Parliament.

Priority two: build and maintain credible relationships with our key audiences and networks

5.5

We will prioritise being a well-connected and networked organisation that is trusted by its key audiences and stakeholders. We will engage regularly, and at a variety of levels, with a broad range of stakeholders, including the public authorities we scrutinise.

5.6

We will use a variety of communication channels to ensure that we reach our key audiences where they spend their time. We will also undertake and commission research to fully understand our audiences’ concerns and priorities so that we can engage with them in an effective and meaningful way.

Priority three: ensure that ESS communications are clear and accessible and put digital first

5.7

The nature of ESS’ work is complex and specialised. We will therefore prioritise clear communication and make every effort to use plain language that can be widely understood. We will also ensure our communications are accessible and inclusive of people with different needs. We will consider accessibility standards across our work and embrace opportunities to produce easy read documents and summaries where it is appropriate to do so.

5.8

We will adopt a digital-first approach, ensuring our messages reach audiences on the platforms that they use, and where they increasingly spend their time – online.

Priority four: empowering our staff and Board to talk confidently on behalf of ESS

5.9

Although the day-to-day work of communications and engagement outlined in the action plan will be undertaken by the ESS communications team, we are mindful that all staff at ESS have a role and responsibility to communicate and engage well with the public and our key networks. We will continue to prioritise integrating our communications approach and priorities across the organisation to ensure a one-team approach to our communications and engagement.

5.10

We will also draw upon the experience and expertise of members of the ESS Board to enhance our engagement with our key stakeholders. The communications team will support the Board to develop a plan for this engagement and will update the activities in the Action Plan to reflect the Board’s feedback and preferences.

Figure 2: Scotland’s communication context and ESS’ communication approach and priorities

6.1

As an independent public body working on compliance with, and the effectiveness of environmental law in Scotland, we recognise that our area of focus is specialised and will resonate most strongly with those that share a direct interest in our work on environmental law. As a result, one of our primary audiences will be the Scottish Parliament to whom we are accountable, and the public authorities that we scrutinise, including but not limited to: the Scottish Government; the Scottish Environment Protection Agency; NatureScot; and local authorities. In addition, any individual or organisation that makes a representation to ESS on an issue of environmental law, will be a key audience for us.

6.2

Scotland has a robust and vibrant group of environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and organisations to whom we will prioritise respectful and meaningful engagement with to increase an understanding of our role and broaden awareness of our work. We will continue to engage with the legal profession who specialise in environmental law and strengthen our connections with other public bodies in Scotland to support clarity around our respective roles and promote effective knowledge sharing. We will also engage with industry bodies to ensure their views are considered in our work.

6.3

To ensure that we are adding value through our work and to share knowledge and evidence in our common areas of interest, we will seek to engage with and communicate regularly with our counterparts at the Office for Environment Protection (OEP) in England and Northern Ireland, and the Interim Environmental Protection Assessor for Wales (IEPAW).

6.4

Despite the specialised nature of our work, as a publicly funded organisation we will take every opportunity to share our findings with the wider public in Scotland. With a clear ESS brand, active digital presence, and engagement with the Scottish press, we will work to ensure more people in Scotland understand who we are, what we do and how they can raise concerns with us on any issue regarding compliance with or effectiveness of, environmental law.

6.5

We will continue to engage in person with communities (particularly under-represented and disadvantaged groups) across the mainland and islands of Scotland to understand and discuss the environmental issues which affect them. This work is done through our Community Engagement Programme that will continue to promote and explain ESS’ role, ensuring that it is widely understood and that communities and individuals are confident in raising their environmental concerns with us.

6.6

We are mindful that as an independent public body we may receive public criticism about the outcomes of our work. We will respond to any criticism in a respectful and timely manner, explaining the decisions of the organisation with a balanced and fair voice. Our investigation and analytical operational guidance will remain updated on the ESS website so the public can understand our processes, including our decision making on how we will handle public representations.

Figure 3 – Why and how ESS engages with its key audiences

7.1

Our action plan outlines a series of communication and engagement activities we will undertake to assist ESS towards the delivery of its Strategic Objectives. The activities outlined in our action plan have been informed by our communications approach and carefully crafted to ensure they each flow from a specific communication and engagement priority.

7.2

The action plan will be reviewed twice a year by the Executive Team. This will ensure relevant feedback and data is considered and that any published changes to the Plan fully aligns with our overall Strategy.

7.3

We will publicly report an overview of progress of the activities in our action plan as part of our Annual Report and Accounts each year alongside the specific and relevant Performance and Management Indicators (PMIs) for this Plan. These PMIs are available to view on the ESS website.

7.4

A Theory of Change will be developed for this Plan that will explain the long-term impact we hope to achieve through the successful delivery of the action plan activities. The Theory of Change will include indicators of how we will measure our success including, but not limited to, growth in social media engagement, the number of ESS community engagement events, ESS perception survey feedback, website metrics and mentions of ESS in the official report of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish press.

Not all actions have specific monitoring criteria set against them, as some are still in development, for example in relation to ESS’ new scrutiny duties.

As these are finalised, they will be listed within the live internal action plan. The internal live action plan also contains more detail on lead responsibilities and new developments.

Key:

ESS Strategic Objectives:

Communication priorities: