The Environment Agency (EA) has launched a new blog on the GOV.UK website to give people an ‘insight’ into what they do.
Written by EA staff, the blog will be used to tell stories about the agency’s work, what it does, and why.
Posts so far include ‘Don’t ruin the summer – Use the right plumber!’, a piece warning of the dangers of misconnected plumbing (20 per cent of homes dispose of sewage incorrectly), and ‘Cracking down on waste crime’, detailing how the EA enforces waste legislation and penalises those operating illegal waste sites.
Some posts have been written prior to the blog’s launch and submissions can be read from as far back as August 2013.
Dr Paul Leinster, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency said: “I’m constantly impressed by the expertise, dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism of the people working at the Environment Agency. As you read this blog, I hope you are too.”
Members of the public are being urged to comment and ask questions on the blog, as well as suggest ideas for future blog posts.
Changes to the EA
As well as the launch of the new blog, the EA has also announced a series of changes to its structure.
Writing in his first post outlining the new blog and what the agency has been up to over the last three months, Leinster explained that the EA is ‘implementing a new two-tier structure at a national and area level’.
This is a reduction from its former three-tier structure, which included regional level operations too. However, the EA has said that regional work will not be lost, but will be subsumed by national or local area offices.
Leinster outlined that there will also be a new executive management structure.
It is thought that these changes come off the back of the EA’s budget cuts, which have led to it announcing that it will cut its workforce by 13 per cent.
Leinster writes: ‘New ways of working will ensure that we continue to deliver more with the funding we receive from government.
'This blog will give you an insight into our work and the stories behind our announcements.’
The new EA blog on GOV.UK comes ahead of the EA’s website moving to the new, central government address.
The present website will remain open, but most links will redirect users to the relevant pages on the new website, or the National Archives.
Hundreds of government agency websites are presently being moved to gov.uk addresses in a move to make information more accessible.
The new website will also be compatible for use on mobile phones.
The EA is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
It is responsible for a range of environmental protection work, including building large-scale flood defences, preventing illegal waste operations, managing fish stocks, and eradicating invasive species.
Read the Environment Agency’s blog
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