Environmental Agencies Better Engagement Group
There is an increasing expectation for organisations to be more engaged with the public and stakeholders. Statutory environmental agencies are expected to contribute as part of such engagement exercises and also to initiate them in relation to their own work.
Since January 2006, The Environment Council has brought together a range of UK statutory environmental agencies to share and develop good practice aimed at improving engagement and participation activities and therefore bettering environmental decision-making.
The group is currently funded by Natural England, Environment Agency, Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, and Irish Environmental Protection Agency.
Members include the funders and Countryside Agency, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland (EHS), Forestry Commission, Historic Scotland, British Waterways, Sustainable Development Commission.
The group has several objectives:
| > | Share and build on existing good practice |
| > | Exchange learning and experience from existing work and projects |
| > | Consider the best way to take forward engagement for future work, particularly where there is multi agency involvement in delivery, consultation or engagement |
| > | Keep abreast of emerging issues including drivers for engagement, methodologies and tools for engagement, and evidence of benefits |
| > | Provide consistent messaging and coherence across agencies on engagement approaches and practice (as well as identifying where and why it may not be applicable) |
| > | Help co-ordinate effort and resources across the range of agencies where value can be gained from doing so |
| > | Establish a clear communication network between Agencies on stakeholder engagement |
If you would like to know more about this group, please contact Claire Mellier by email or by phone on 0207 632 0110.