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Shaping and Influencing Policy: Q4 22/23

31 March 2023

We welcomed in a new year and have had a busy final quarter of 22/23. Q4 was dominated by political change in Scotland, and we welcomed a new First Minister along with Cabinet and Ministerial changes. We plan to engage the newly appointed Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers with welcome letters and advocacy relevant to their role and responsibilities in the first week of April.

 

Strategic engagement and working collaboratively  

We were pleased to attend meetings with Dundee City Council and Aberdeenshire Council and a range of other partners to discuss and develop ways in which we can support work on restoring nature and biodiversity, and coastal path development. 

In collaboration with ASH Scotland, Marine Conservation Society, environmental activist Laura Young, and others, we campaigned for a ban on the sale and manufacture of disposable vapes, and for retailers to introduce a voluntary ban on the sale of these items.  

We launched 2023’s Spring Clean Scotland with an MSP Litter Pick outside Scottish Parliament hosted by Paul McLennan MSP.  

 

Developing and engaging with policy 

Our secretariat support for the Scottish Parliament Cross-Party Group on Circular Economy continues, and we look forward to the next meeting. We continue to await publication of the new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy. 

Through our membership of Scottish Environment LINK, we endorsed a response to the proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill, which is calling for the establishment of a Future Generations Commissioner for Scotland along with formally defining wellbeing and sustainable development within Scottish law.  

 

Demonstrating expertise and credibility 

We have continued to expand and develop our relationships across Scotland’s local authorities, and the membership organisations we are part of.  

We were pleased to present our annual Dissertation Prize to a student at University of Stirling,   

Internally we have set out a policy plan to refresh and update our entire suite of position statements – making sure that these reflect the most up-to-date research and evidence.

We support the