Rural Community Gateway

The new service - Scotland's Environmental and Rural Services (SEARS) - will result in:

• almost 2,000 fewer inspections to farms in the first year due to better co-ordination of visits between the nine public organisations involved
• a reduction in the burden of information provision on land managers as public bodies will share relevant data to avoid information having to be submitted more than once
• a 24/7 contact centre and web portal to ensure easy access to information

Launching the new service, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead said:

"We are committed to making government in Scotland more effective. And Scotland's Environmental and Rural Services (SEARS) will do just that.

"SEARS will reduce duplication, bureaucracy and overlap and in turn deliver greater efficiency, effectiveness and, importantly, speed of delivery.

"The new service aims to improve the experience of rural land managers in dealing with the nine public bodies involved. By October next year SEARS organisations will have reduced the number of separate visits and inspections to rural land managers by 2,000. This should in turn reduce the burden the previous amount of visits placed on this vital sector.

Minister for Environment Michael Russell, who chaired the project reference group and steered the project to today's launch, said:

"SEARS will speed up delivery by reducing process delays. New procedures have been worked up to streamline internal consultation and joint guidance on specific activities, such as bracken spraying, where previously there was unnecessary overlap and duplication.

"It is fantastic what has been achieved so far. The service will be more user-friendly. Access to information and advice will also be improved through a 24/7 contact centre and a web portal that brings together details of the main services provided by the SEARS bodies and relevant contacts."

Dr Campbell Gemmell, the Chief Executive of SEPA who chairs the SEARS frontline delivery project board said:

"For the SEARS family, the past year has been both challenging and exciting. We have worked extremely well together and discovered new ways of co-operating in order to deliver both a better experience for our rural customers as well as our various environmental responsibilities.

"We have developed what I believe to be a strong and credible package of actions, based on a collective understanding of the issues facing customers and service providers. This has benefited increasingly from engagement with our customers and through regular, continuing dialogue. And using the customer research material we have now received, we are developing further ideas for implementation.

"We have achieved a lot, but there remains, of course, much to be done. Our priority for the next few months will be to embed the SEARS philosophy throughout our nine organisations. We will also be looking for further opportunities to simplify our processes and combine our efforts, whilst maintaining the various specialist services that land managers, farmers and foresters continue to want and need."

The nine organisations which form SEARS are:

• Animal Health
• Cairngorms National Park Authority
• Crofters Commission
• Deer Commission
• Forestry Commission Scotland
• Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate
• Scottish Natural Heritage

• Privacy
• Help
• Contact Us
• Disclaimer