Mark Roberts Chief Executive Environmental Standards Scotland Ìrean Àrainneachdail na h-Alba Edward Mountain MSP Convener Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP 5 February 2026 Dear Convener, Draft Scottish Budget 2026/27 The draft Scottish Budget for 2026/27 allocates a total of £3.742 million to Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS). Schedule 1, paragraph 13 of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 sets out that: (1) The Scottish Ministers must seek to ensure that the amount of resources allocated for use by ESS is reasonably sufficient to enable it to perform its functions. (2) Each report prepared under paragraph 12 must include an assessment by ESS of whether the amount of resources allocated for use by it in the financial year to which the report relates was sufficient to enable it to perform its functions.