The following has dropped into my email box and appears to be addressed to anyone with an opinion to put forward, so I am publishing it here. It will perhaps be a bit of a challenge in itself to many people, but I feel sure it contains information of interest to many, so please feel free to participate in any way you think fit.
A message from the Environment Agency
"Corona virus is causing concern across the country for everyone. We wanted to update you about how the Environment Agency and our Environment Programme team has changed its working practices in response to the Covid19 advice from Government.
We are following guidance, and therefore all our staff will work from home, unless there is a critical need for alternative working.
As you might have experienced, we have been having connectivity issues, some linked to our own systems, and some due to national demand on the network. This week we have put in place arrangements for different ways of working to accommodate so many staff working from home, this has resulted in restricted, but more predictable and reliable network access for staff.
We are all making a quick transition in these difficult circumstances. As a result of the important restrictions, our Environment Programme team capacity will be reduced for the following key reasons;
- We are working with colleagues to support critical parts of the business, such as pollution response, asset or high risk inspections and national communications; our update EA Strategic Objectives are listed below.
- As individuals we continue to work, but many at reduced hours as we support our families and provide home schooling/ child care.
This does mean that elements of the Environment Programme work may have to be slowed or postponed, but we will also be pooling our resources to make sure that we support our partners and your priority work.
We appreciate you will also be adjusting your ways of working, and so do update us how we can best support and work with you, and to highlight your priorities.
If we haven’t already, we will be in touch shortly with regards specific projects.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and support at this challenging time, we look forward to continuing working with you to deliver more great work for the environment across Yorkshire."
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