Foreword
This plan sets out our programme for the coming year, as we deliver the priorities set by Ministers in the Partnership Agreement and elsewhere. It is ambitious, not least because of the challenge of delivering with sharply reduced departmental running costs. I am confident that we will continue to meet the high standards of performance that I've witnessed in the last year and achieve a great deal for the citizens in Scotland.
Last year, many people in the Department came together to create a simple picture of the outcomes that we work towards - clean air, safe drinking water and so on. We have structured this plan around 10 main outcomes, as a management tool. The plan also draws heavily on the "Big Picture" - the way we describe Scottish Executive-wide actions to deliver a more effective and more efficient service.
In 2006-07, we will continue to work with the ERAD family of organisations, with our stakeholders, and with the people of Scotland to deliver and communicate Scottish Ministers' priorities. We will build better business practices to become more efficient, and help our staff develop and achieve their full potential.
You can read more about our approach in the pages that follow. This plan is not a document to sit on a shelf and gather dust. It has been drafted to include useful reference material. And the Departmental Management Board that I chair will review progress against the priorities throughout the year. I hope that you will find it a useful document to have to hand during the year. If there is more you need to know, please let me know.
In ERAD we are proud of what we achieved in 2005-06, and we look forward to exceeding that in 2006-7
RICHARD WAKEFORD