Chamber and committees

Thank you, minister. The first question is from me. In my six years in the Parliament, I do not think that I have ever come across legislation that caused so many problems as it was being introduced. What is the problem, as you see it? I am then going to ask you how you will solve it.

Okay. If the biggest problem is “misunderstanding”, to use your word, somebody has failed to explain the scheme to the people concerned. Do you have enough time to explain it to those people before the launch in August?

Before we move on, I want to ask a quick question, just so that I understand this. Many rural areas have only one small store selling convenience goods; most people will use it on an ad hoc basis then go to bigger towns and settlements at the weekend to get their messages. Because there is no other shop in the village, there can be no proximity exemption, so the shop cannot get away from being part of the deposit return scheme, and it cannot argue for an environmental health exemption, because all it is doing is selling these things. It will therefore be forced to have a deposit return scheme and forced to take containers from the big shops where most people get their shopping at the weekend. As a result, it will probably end up with a storage yard as big as the shop itself. Is that how you see it, or have I completely misunderstood the situation?

It would be helpful to have some idea of the timescales for the gateway review. Mark Ruskell has questions on other areas.

I am sure that we will ask that question, because I am sure that some of the big multiples will not want to get down to sticking on labels in normal convenience stores for small quantities of products.

The session has been interesting, minister. Thank you very much for your time. I am sure that the committee will have further questions for the Circularity Scotland representatives, who are coming on, I think, 28 March to answer our questions.

I will just continue with our agenda, as we have one further item in public. I am sure that you will be able to slip away quietly, minister, as we move on to that.

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

I think that I understand that, but my point is that people will not take their cans and containers on the bus when they do their shopping at the weekend. It will be much easier to pop them into the local shop before they go. I think that that will be a problem, so I am interested in it.

So, it is common to replicate problems.

The next questions are from Liam Kerr.

Thank you, minister. Back to you, Mark.