Quantifying and Measuring Delivery of Public Interests in Deer Management

Descriptions

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)/NatureScot is a Non-Departmental Public Body comprising staff based throughout Scotland, whose remit is to secure the conservation and enhancement of Scotland's natural heritage – its wildlife, habitats and landscapes. The purpose of this contract is to further Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)/NatureScot in supporting the deer management sector to deliver effective and sustainable management of wild deer by scoping the opportunities for ongoing assessment and evaluation of a range of public interest indicators. This scoping exercise will form the basis for discussion between SNH/NatureScot and key sector stakeholders to consider ways of assessing and auditing delivery of a range of public interests in a meaningful, measurable way. Suppliers are asked to conduct an initial scoping study into practical measures for assessing delivery of outcomes associated with deer management measures, and to consider the extent to which this could be an evolution of an existing DMG Assessment process. The specific requirements are to provide suggestions and appraisal of options for: (i)Evaluation of existing criteria -Review existing criteria for assessing delivery of effective deer management in the public interest and consider the potential for streamlining or refocusing these -Consider how these public interest criteria, and the technical standards they represent, can be reframed to ensure they are output focused and action driven, rather than planning focused -Explore the metrics and measures which could be used to quantify and demonstrate delivery of management in line with standards -Consider how, using these metrics/indicators DMGs can readily evidence delivery simply (ii)Tolerances and regional priorities -Evaluate how appropriate tolerances against key outcomes can be worked into the criteria -Consider how the criteria/approach can be nuanced enough be applied nationally while acknowledging that regional priorities will be varied (iii)Mechanisms for managing a future scheme/approach -Evaluate how other similar type schemes work in other related sectors, and understand the limitations and opportunities associated with assessment/assurance/accreditation schemes -Evaluate the need for linkages between an approach to assessing delivery as it relates to deer management to other related land management schemes -Consider the practical steps to establishing an effective approach to quantifying delivery -Consider how any future approach can be linked with assessing delivery against national policy targets and progress towards meeting them Part of this scoping study should also include some analysis of stakeholder perspectives to be identified through discussion with SNH/NatureScot.