“In-house ecological expertise” is defined as those who are employed by the council on a part-time or full-time basis and who have Chartered Ecological status (CEcol).
How many chartered ecologists the council has employed over the last three years between May 2018 to May 2021? Please provide this figure in terms of FTE equivalence.
For example, if you have employed only one chartered ecologist 2.5days a week over the past three years the FTE figure = 0.5
Chartered Ecologists Employed by Devon County Council
| 2018-2019 Chartered | 2019-2020 Chartered | 2020-2021 Chartered |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
This nil response is due to the very specific and inappropriate definition of ‘in-house ecological expertise’. Devon County Council employs ecological specialists, the suitability of whom for this role (i.e. in terms of knowledge, competencies and experience) is carefully assessed through recruitment processes. This includes an expectation of full membership of a relevant professional institute but does not require chartered status. If the same question was asked of in-house ecologists employed by Devon County Council who are non-chartered members of a relevant Professional Institute (i.e. for our staff, this would be the Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management), the answer would be:
| 2018-2019 Non-Chartered Ecologists | 2019-2020 Non-Chartered Ecologists | 2020-2021 Non-Chartered Ecologists |
| 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
Other Environmental Experts Employed by Devon County Council
| 2018-2019 other expertise | 2019-2020 other expertise | 2020-2021 other expertise |
| 10.8 | 11.1 | 11.1 |
This question does not make it clear what type of ‘other environmental experts’ should be included this analysis. On this basis, the above response includes all establishment positions within Devon County Council’s Natural Environment Team. This includes:
- Ecologists (non-chartered)
- Landscape specialist
- Coastal specialist
- Environmental sustainability and climate change specialists
- Environmental technician
- Environment Manager