News - June 2009
Welcome to the latest SEARS news update – this month is unsurprisingly dominated by the Royal Highland Show.
Staff thanked for hard work as first SEARS annual review is published
The SEARS family is proud to be able to present the first annual review, which has now been published. The Review was launched this morning at the Royal Highland Show by Minister for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham MSP.
In the first year since the partnership was formally launched we have:
- Carried out 2,000 fewer inspections or visits to land managers
- Saved the sheep farming industry around £150,000 in groundwater licence charges
- Introduced a 24/7 contact centre and got the SEARS web portal also up and running
- Given land managers the opportunity to change their personal information with up to nine organisations through introduction of single contact
- Co-located SNH, RPID and FCS staff in new office in Golspie
There been other landmarks over the course of our first year and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead was keen to highlight the hard work of staff across the whole SEARS family. He said:
"From a very early stage, this Government made very clear its commitment to reducing bureaucracy and red tape in every area of the public sector and doing so for farmers and land managers was a top priority.
"This was always going to be a challenging task, with a cultural change needed in our public bodies, as well new working methods, staff training and better information sharing.
"However, I am delighted to see from its first annual review that the SEARS partnership is working very well and that the bodies involved are rising to the challenges.
"SEARS is an important development for our land managers and we can expect even more improvements as it pushes its work forward."
Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham was also pleased with the progress on show and added:
"It is absolutely clear to me that since its launch at last year’s Royal Highland Show, we have taken enormous strides to improve delivery of services by Scotland’s environment and rural public bodies. The benefits to customers are clear.
"This review draws together the highlights of the work undertaken by SEARS in its first year, as well the issues facing the partnership further down the line.
"As SEARS moves to its next stage of development, I look forward to hearing more about its work and listening to feedback from its customers."
This week has also seen the launch of the SEARS Biosecurity Protocol by both Richard Lochhead and Roseanna Cunningham.
Look out for our next news update in a few weeks when we will be looking back at what went on at the Show and looking ahead to what the next phase of SEARS will include.
