Chamber and committees

Is that a policy divergence, or is the fact that we need different regulatory regimes just the consequence of Brexit? The registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals is an example of a duplicate regime running alongside another one. Are there any fundamental differences between the EU and the UK around how we regulate and go forward with policy, or is the issue more about the fact that we have duplicate regulatory structures and friction and, as has been said, a lack of capacity to then keep pace with all the things, from honey production to fertilisers and everything else?

I want to ask about the line between the individual cases—or multiple instances of a case—that are presented to you and the work that you do to look for systemic change and analysis of issues. Richard Dixon said earlier that there is evidence that SEPA is taking on more individual cases now, and we have certainly heard that that is the case. I am not entirely clear whether that is a result of increased awareness of the existence of ESS or referrals or whatever but, if the bodies that are primarily responsible for individual cases are picking up more casework, how is that starting to influence the themes and topics on which you then look to do further investigation, with a view to addressing what might be underlying systemic issues? It feels as if there is a bit of an interplay and a bit of a grey line between the two.

So, at the moment, there is a missing bit of the jigsaw puzzle. Currently, individuals come to you with individual issues. It sounds as if you need to screen those and work out whether a systemic issue underlies them. Do multiple individuals and organisations combine similar complaints that maybe point to a systemic issue? Do you discuss with SEPA and other organisations the volume of their individual complaints so that they can say to you that they have a problem with noise monitoring, environmental assessment or whatever, as they have had 30 complaints on that subject, and ask whether you are aware of that? I am interested in what that conversation looks like.

Do you work on that particular issue with the OEP in England and with the equivalent Welsh body? There is a huge debate about water quality, which is worsening in England. Are you taking a shared approach to that, or are there separate workstreams?

A related issue on which we have had correspondence is the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, and one piece of EU legislation that was revoked under that act was the National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2018. You raised concerns at the time about that whole framework and about how we would report and develop plans around air quality after going over the Brexit cliff edge. What do you see coming forward now? Do you have any more intelligence as to how that gap can be filled? I think that those regulations went in the autumn of last year. To my knowledge, no replacement in that area has been announced yet by any of the Governments.

Is there a practical implication if an organisation wants to challenge the Government on whether it is meeting its air quality standards? Is there an immediate gap there, and is that a problem?

I was going to ask about how long the ODPS has been in place and how many times the cap has been breached during that time, but I think that Ms Sizeland has already answered that question. If there is any more detail about that that you want to get on the record, it would be useful to know.

Was that at a time when patronage was growing substantially, or was that predicted? I think that we are now growing back very slowly from Covid—that seems to be the case from the modelling that I have seen. From discussions with bus companies, I think they are not expecting a huge surge in older people being back on the buses. What was the trend that led up to the breach of the cap in a single year, in 2018?

The young persons scheme has been really successful. There were a few teething problems at the beginning, but there is now substantial uptake among young people under the age of 22 who have the card.

Is there a target for how much you want the percentage of cardholders to go up in the next year? Will we reach a plateau in the numbers of people and their families who want a card, or do you think there is still a gap and that councils and schools could encourage young people to take up the card in greater numbers? Are we at the limit of uptake of the card, or do you think there is still a little way to go in getting the last folk on board?

That all sounds substantial. I am sure that it will be a great help to the committee when those reports are published and we can look at that.

Can I take it from your answer that that will feed into ministerial objectives for Scottish Water’s investment and that the report will be timed in such a way as to inform ministerial thinking and choices?