Evaluation of the Compliance and Quality of Biodiversity Duty Reports 2015

Annex 5: Interview questions

This annex provides a list of the interview questions for public bodies that had produced a report and those that had not produced a report. Note that these questions were tailored for each interviewee according to their organisation and survey response.

Organisations that had published a biodiversity duty report

1. How did you become aware of the requirement to produce a biodiversity duty report?

2. Did you use the template when producing your report?

i. Was it easy to follow and understand?

ii. Do you think the template needs to be changed or altered?

iii. Was the template restrictive?

3. Are there any barriers to reporting?

4. Are there any barriers to undertaking biodiversity actions?

5. Do you think that a guidance document would be beneficial to assisting reporting?

i. If so, what would this look like? Should it be a structured (i.e. like a form to complete)? Should it contain worked examples?

6. Are there any additional actions (e.g. setting up an online forum, holding seminars, sending out reminders) that the Scottish Government could take to assist reporting?

7. Do you have any examples of good practice that you would like to highlight?

8. Any other comments?

Organisations that had not published a biodiversity duty report

1. Were you aware of the need for public bodies to report on biodiversity every three years?

2. Did you receive any form of communication from the Scottish Government?

3. Are you aware of the reporting template/guidance document?

4. What do you think are the main barriers to reporting?

5. How do you think the barriers can be overcome?

6. Do you think that a guidance document and/or a template would be beneficial to assisting reporting?

i. If so, what would this look like? Should it be a structured (i.e. like a form to complete)? Should it contain worked examples?

7. Are there any additional actions that the Scottish Government could take to assist public bodies in reporting?

8. Any other comments?