Chamber and committees

That was a helpful introduction and I absolutely endorse what you said about Mr Martin.

ESS published its first annual report and accounts in October 2023. Building on what you have said, can you summarise your main achievements and the impacts of the interventions that you have undertaken? Perhaps most importantly, what have been the key challenges for the organisation and how are you considering those as you look ahead?

Thank you, both. It was helpful to hear you list the significant achievements and highlight the important considerations and challenges for the future.

Graham Simpson now has a few questions on your reporting documentation.

Are you talking about the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021?

Do colleagues have any further questions on the strategic plan, the annual report and the six-month updates?

If colleagues are content, we will move on to the area of environmental governance and the review.

As you will be aware, concerns have been raised by stakeholders about how the Scottish Government approached the 2023 environmental governance review, and you said in your response that the review was too narrow. I appreciate that you touched on the issue in your opening statement and first answer, but what was missing from the review and why have you described it as a missed opportunity? Have you had discussions with the Scottish Government about potential next steps? If so, how are those discussions going?

Thank you—that was interesting.

Mark Ruskell has a question in this area.

Bob Doris, do you have any questions?

That moves us on nicely to the next area of consideration: compliance with the Aarhus convention and calls for an environmental court to enable better access to environmental justice. Graham Simpson will open for us on that theme.

For clarity, I would ask you to write to the committee, and your correspondence will be shared with all members.

We now move to questions on climate change more broadly. I will hand over to Douglas Lumsden.

That is a good note on which to conclude our evidence session. I thank Dr Dixon and Mr Roberts very much for their time, reflections and insights.