Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government currently uses two main indicators of low income poverty, both of which reveal slightly different information about changes in poverty over time. These indicators are relative and absolute poverty.

Relative poverty:

Relative poverty is measured as the percentage and number of individuals living in households whose equivalised income is below 60% of UK median income in the same year. This is a measure of whether those in the lowest income households are keeping pace with the growth of incomes in the population as a whole. In 2011-12 the relative poverty threshold for a couple with no children was an income of
£256 per week (before housing costs) from all sources. For a couple with children the threshold would be higher and for a single person (without children) the threshold would be lower.

Absolute poverty:

Absolute poverty is measured as the percentage and number of individuals living in households whose equivalised income is below 60% of the (inflation adjusted) median income in 2010-11. This is a measure of whether those in the lowest income households are seeing their incomes rise in real terms. In 2011-12 the absolute poverty threshold for a couple with no children was an income of £264 per week (before housing costs) from all sources.

The absolute poverty threshold is higher than the relative poverty threshold in
2011-12 as inflation increased at a faster rate than average earnings in 2011-12. This means households need to earn more, in real terms, to maintain their incomes compared with 2010-11 (the reference year for absolute poverty).

The relative and absolute poverty indicators are presented on two bases: Before Housing Costs (BHC) and After Housing Costs (AHC). This is principally to take into account variations in housing costs that themselves do not correspond to comparable variations in the quality of housing.

An additional measure for children is the combined low income and material deprivation indicator. This indicator aims to provide a measure of children’s living standards which, unlike relative and absolute poverty, is not solely based on income.

Relative and absolute poverty indicators are estimated for all individuals, children, working age adults, and pensioners. The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets out four income related targets that the UK Government must meet by 2020. These are targets on relative child poverty, absolute child poverty, children in combined low income and material deprivation and children in persistent poverty.

These indicators are used to measure two of Scotland’s national indicators: reduce the proportion of individuals living in poverty, and reduce children’s deprivation.

The Scottish Government is taking action on a number of fronts.

Our Waste Regulations, approved by the Scottish Parliament last year, include measures that will ensure most households in Scotland receive a food waste collection by the end of 2015. All businesses producing significant quantities of food waste, except those in rural areas, will also need to present that waste separately for collection by the end of 2015.

Through Zero Waste Scotland we are providing significant additional funding to local authorities to support the roll-out of household food waste collections. As a direct result of this support around 1.2 million households will have access to a food waste collection service by February 2014. We have also provided around £7 million to help expand the network of anaerobic digestion and composting facilities across Scotland. This has led to a three-fold increase in processing capacity since 2008.

Early next year we will launch a national campaign to promote household food waste collections and encourage uptake of this new service. This campaign will build on our 2012 food waste prevention campaign.

The capture and recycling of food waste from both households and businesses is key to achieving our 2025 recycling target for all waste. Historically, most of the food waste produced in Scotland was sent to landfill where it breaks down producing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The measures introduced last year in our Waste Regulations will ensure that this is no longer the case.

Instead, collected food waste will now be sent for processing at anaerobic digestion or composting facilities allowing us to not only reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions but also produce outputs that can be used in agricultural applications. Where food waste is processed in anaerobic digestion plants we can also produce energy, thereby contributing to our renewable energy targets.

There has been extensive dialogue with both COSLA and individual local authorities on food waste initiatives and on the development of our wider waste policy. This engagement continues both directly and through Zero Waste Scotland.

To promote the recycling of food waste we have provided additional funding for a number of initiatives.

In 2011 Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) launched its Food Waste Support Programme. This runs through to 2014-15 and will see councils receive in the region of £20 million of additional support to help with the roll-out of household food waste collection and recycling services.

In 2012 the Scottish Government ran a national food waste prevention campaign. The cost of this was £0.58 million.

From 2007-08 to 2010-11 we provided funding of £3.49 million for home composting initiatives. From 2011-12 home composting initiatives have been funded under ZWS’s food waste programme. Breakdown as follows:

Since 2007-08 we have provided around £7 million to support the development of anaerobic digestion and composting facilities, thereby helping the growth of this sector in Scotland. Breakdown as follows:

Food waste recycling in rural areas has a number of roles to play and can bring significant benefits.

Local community composting groups for example can bring a number of benefits including much needed employment opportunities and enhanced community cohesion. Community composting also ensures that there are local outlets for compostable wastes with the end products also used locally in gardens, parks and small scale agricultural type holdings.

Food waste recycling in rural areas may provide business opportunities for private sector service providers looking to offer a collection service to rural businesses with the material collected being processed in either local anaerobic digestion (AD) or composting facilities. Where food waste is processed in AD facilities there will be scope to produce energy that can be utilised locally to the benefit of the community.

Local solutions for food waste also have the potential to reduce costs as it removes the need to transport food waste, as part of the mixed waste stream, over long distances for processing elsewhere.

Under the Food Waste Support Programme, delivered by Zero Waste Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, we have allocated £5 million for the 2013-14 financial year. A further £5 million has been allocated for 2014-15 for food waste recycling initiatives.

Early next year we will run a national campaign to promote household food waste collections and encourage uptake of this new service. This campaign is expected to cost around £0.6 million.

The Scottish Government has a target to recycle at least 70% of Scotland’s waste by 2025. No specific target for food waste has been set, but the capture and recycling of food waste is recognised as being key to the achievement of our 70% target.

The measures included in the Waste Regulations, approved by Parliament last year, will ensure that the majority of food waste produced by businesses and households in Scotland is captured for recycling.

The Scottish Government has carefully considered this research. Although the research found some adverse effects in some dogs studied, as previously indicated in the answer to question S4W-11777 on 18 December 2012, it did not provide adequate evidence of long-term or significant damage to the welfare of dogs that would justify a ban on these training aids.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that e-collars are used responsibly, so will co-operate with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to draw up guidance regarding how e-collars should be used.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government takes a national approach to tackling child poverty, with action at a local level being the responsibility of the local authority. It is therefore not possible to provide figures at that level. In terms of overall government spending, I would refer the member to the following link for further information:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/17534.aspx.

In the spring we will publish a revised child poverty strategy, building on our commitment to do all we can to maximise household incomes and improve children’s wellbeing and life chances. We will work with the Ministerial Advisory Group on Child Poverty and other interested parties to ensure that the strategy describes an approach through which we can work together to tackle child poverty in Scotland. Only with access to our own resources and the ability to join up policy across devolved and reserved areas, can we make the substantial difference we need to and tackle child poverty for good.