Scottish Environment Protection Agency
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that serves as Scotland's principal environmental regulator and national flood risk management authority. It protects Scotland's environment by regulating activities that could cause pollution and issuing environmental authorisations and licences.www.sepa.org.uk
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Search complete. 14 mentions across 9 episodes found for "Scottish Environment Protection Agency".
Sep 21, 2026
Lisa TennantGUEST
I'm sure we'll get on to talking about that.
Lisa TennantGUEST
At the moment, I'm the chair of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and I'm the chair of the NHS Pension Scheme for England and Wales.
Lisa TennantGUEST
And I sit on various other boards and I have lots of other things in my portfolio, which I'll be very happy to talk about.
Bob GentleHOST
So I mentioned the chair circle, and I think chair education is something that you're quite passionate about.
KarenNARRATOR
but further information was given in documents published by the government after Mr Swinney had delivered his speech.
KarenNARRATOR
Elsewhere in the plans, the reforms will see the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, SEPA, NatureScot, Zero Waste Scotland and Forestry Scotland be merged into a single organisation.
KarenNARRATOR
The Scottish Food Commission and the Scottish Pubs Code Adjudicator will be integrated into Food Standards Scotland while maintaining their independent scrutiny functions.
KarenNARRATOR
Architecture and Design Scotland will form part of More Homes Scotland.
Jamie CarpenterGUEST
And next up, the Scottish Government has said it plans to merge its four environmental agencies into one single body over the next five years.
Jamie CarpenterGUEST
First Minister John Swinney spoke last week on the government's new five-year program, which includes plans to bring the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which is Scotland's main environmental regulator, NatureScot, Zero Waste Scotland, and potentially Scottish Forestry under one roof.
Jamie CarpenterGUEST
He said that this would bring the four into a single overarching environment body to remove unnecessary barriers and make our environmental interventions more impactful.
James Agyepong-ParsonsHOST
And finally, after a summer of drought and wildfires, Parliament has returned, and there is a lot to do.
Xander ElliottHOST
Quite a high up one in the programme for government is kind of the environmental bodies.
Xander ElliottHOST
And it's like, I've wondered for a while why NatureScot and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency are separate things.
Xander ElliottHOST
Like, Scottish forestry as well.
Xander ElliottHOST
It's like, okay, bring it in.
Howell JonesNARRATOR
The Programme for Government outlines extensive ways in which Scotland's public sector will be reduced and consolidated, including, but not limited to, cutting NHS Scotland's 14 territorial health boards down to just two.
Howell JonesNARRATOR
Bringing various environmental bodies, including SEPA, NatureScot, Zero Waste Scotland and potentially Scottish Forestry, into a single outfit.
Howell JonesNARRATOR
Integrating the Scottish Food Commission and the Scottish Pubs Code Adjudicator into Food Standards Scotland.
Howell JonesNARRATOR
And reviewing all of Scotland's other public bodies for efficiency, while exploring the opportunities for joint working or merger projects.
Laura MillerHOST
What is the sort of worst case scenario that you're trying to prevent? Well, when
Jude McCorryGUEST
you look at what happens with the health service in Ireland, and that was Conti gang that carried out the SEPA attack as well, allegedly.
Jude McCorryGUEST
And in Ireland, they took down the whole health care system.
Laura MillerHOST
So that's all diagnostics, scans, you know, the computer network.
Jude McCorryGUEST
I remember I was in the gym and I was like, I was running on the treadmill and I seen the thing and I was like, oh, my God, my dad had Parkinson's and he since passed away.
Jude McCorryGUEST
But he was reliant on the hospitals at that time.
Jude McCorryGUEST
And we were after working on the SEPA attack with SEPA, with Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.
Jude McCorryGUEST
We had a good gang of people that, good gang, not bad gang, good gang of people that were working on it.
Martin DyerGUEST
And obviously, we know that fish farms being introduced in the locks in those sensitive ecosystems and environments there can have a significant detrimental effect if they're not managed correctly.
Martin DyerGUEST
And a company to prepared their environmental impact assessments, submitted to SEPA, so the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, and it was AI generated.
Martin DyerGUEST
I think that SEPA sort of looked to reject that report.
Martin DyerGUEST
But my understanding is that without the guidance from central government to say whether that's right or wrong, it's in a state of limbo and a state of flux.
Martin DyerGUEST
And what we really need to consider is how the regulatory authorities and the government are going to manage this and sort of say, you know, AI is a tool for productivity and good, but equally how we do that.
Abbi Garton-CrosbieHOST
And ministers have said they would also explore the establishment of a single ferries body for the Clydes and Western Isles routes.
Abbi Garton-CrosbieHOST
and then look at bringing environment bodies including SEPA, Nature Scotland, Zero Waste Scotland and potentially Scottish Forestry into a single organisation.
Abbi Garton-CrosbieHOST
So John Swinney said the number of quangos in Scotland will be substantially reduced over the next five years.
Abbi Garton-CrosbieHOST
So the PFG, which is kind of what we colloquially call it, stop saying program for government all the time, which I've just said again, It states that the Scottish Food Commission and the Scottish Pubs Code Adjudicator will be brought into Food Standards Scotland.
7 MINS LATER
Xander ElliardsHOST
Of course there are.
Xander ElliardsHOST
Mergers of Quangos doing essentially the same job isn't going to result in more jobs.
Xander ElliardsHOST
Like putting Nature Scott in with SEPA, there's only going to be one chief executive.
Xander ElliardsHOST
Do you know what I mean? So that's one job loss immediately.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
Having plenty of water in the country is not the same as having secure water where and when people, communities and businesses need it.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
On August 13th, SEPA reported significant scarcity in parts of eastern Scotland with many rivers experiencing low or very low river flows while normal to high flows persisted in the north west.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
Its warning was straightforward.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
As rainfall becomes less predictable, water may not always be available where and when it's needed.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
But Scotland's own resilience and environmental limits must come first, and infrastructure paid for here cannot simply become a resource assumed to be available elsewhere without agreement or value.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
Solidarity cannot mean that a resource ceases to have an owner, a cost or an environmental limit.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
The Scottish Government should now bring the work already underway together into a national water resilience and transfer study involving Scottish Water, SEPA, local authorities and wider economic, environmental and community interests.
Lynn McNeillNARRATOR
It should examine supply and demand towards 2050, 2080 and 2100, map weaknesses between existing systems, assess additional storage and transfer options, safeguard potential corridors and set ecological limits.