Scotland's Environmental and Rural Services
Scotland's Environmental and Rural Services (SEARS) brings together nine delivery-focused bodies within the Environment and Rural Affairs portfolio to provide more joined-up services, initially to rural land managers. SEARS is part of the Scottish Government's Simplification Programme, aimed at re-aligning public services to achieve more effective service delivery. SEARS is not an organisation, but rather a set of principles guiding joined-up working across the SEARS organisations. The SEARS Principles have been endorsed by the Environment Minister.
The SEARS Programme Board is chaired by Peter Russell, the Scottish Government Rural Director. SNH's Chief Executive Ian Jardine represents Scottish Natural Heritage on this Board, which oversees a range of cross-organisation development projects.
The SEARS partners are:
- Animal Health
- Cairngorms National Park Authority
- Crofters Commission
- Deer Commission for Scotland
- 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
For more information on how SEARS works, please visit the SEARS portal 
.