Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

About SEPA

About The Scottish Environment Protection Agency

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) was established in 1996, bringing together into a single organisation a range of functions previously undertaken by river purification boards, local authorities and Her Majesty’s Industrial Pollution Inspectorate, to deliver an integrated environmental protection service for Scotland. We are a non-departmental public body (NDPB), part of the family of public bodies which operate at arm’s length from the Government but which are accountable through Scottish Ministers to the Scottish Parliament.

As Scotland’s principal environmental regulator SEPA is responsible for implementing and monitoring compliance with Scots and UK environmental laws, around 90% of which originate in Europe. We also contribute to formulating legislation and regulations, play an important role in achieving international environmental obligations, and provide expert advice to the Scottish and UK Governments and to other partner organisations.

SEPA’s work is focused on four key outcomes:

  • Scotland’s environment is protected and improving
  • Scotland’s environment is understood and SEPA is an influential and respected authority
  • Scotland is preparing for a sustainable future and is taking steps to limit climate change
  • SEPA is a high performance organisation

Our role is complex and wide-ranging, from environmental regulation to addressing climate change, monitoring and reporting on the state of our environment, promoting sustainable resource use, advising on environmental issues, protecting individuals and communities from environmental harms, providing a range of emergency response and public warning services, and contributing to sustainable economic growth.

We collect and analyse tens of thousands of environmental samples and measurements each year. We have a deep scientific knowledge of a broad range of environmental issues and report on the state of Scotland’s environment in publications, on our web site and through the Scotland’s Environment web site.

We strive to be a high performance organisation, and last year we achieved 25 out of our 27 corporate performance targets, as well as investing significant effort in organisational change. We have more than 1200 employees covering a range of specialist areas including environmental regulation, planning, chemistry, ecology, hydrology, engineering, flood risk, waste management, resilience, communications, finance, project management, information technology and management functions. We have 22 offices, giving us a geographical presence across the whole of Scotland, from the Highlands and Islands to the Borders.

Transforming SEPA

In 2009 we set out our vision for transforming SEPA into a better, but smaller organisation. We are on a journey of change; focused on delivering better while continuing to live within our means; ensuring that environmental regulation is as simple and easy to comply with as possible, and is not unnecessarily burdensome; focusing our efforts on addressing the environmental issues that matter most; working more in partnership with others; and delivering more by way of measurable results for the environment, communities and the economy.

We are working with the Scottish Government on a joint Better Environmental Regulation Programme. As a result of this programme, new legislation will help us to take a more risk-based, flexible and joined-up approach to our work. The Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act, passed this year, introduces a new statutory purpose for SEPA: to protect and improve the environment, including managing natural resources in a sustainable way and, in doing so, to contribute to improving the health and well-being of the people of Scotland and the achievement of sustainable economic growth. It also paves the way for additional enforcement powers, a new framework of environmental regulation and a new funding model for our work. These are the biggest changes to environmental law and our cost recovery system since we were established in 1996, and will have a significant positive impact on the way we work.

Additional information and documents for download: