Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-25598

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25326 by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 September 2019, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £1.8 million spent by Zero Waste Scotland on programme delivery for the deposit return scheme.

Question reference: S5W-25597

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25327 by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 September 2019, how it plans to allocate the £1.2 million remaining from the Resource Efficient Circular Economy Accelerator Programme in the 2018-19 budget line.

Question reference: S5W-25498

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities will receive technical support to manage kerbside collections as a result of the introduction of a deposit return system.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting local authority collection arrangements for a range of packaging materials alongside the deposit return scheme (DRS). Zero Waste Scotland is working with local authorities individually to explore the impacts on, and opportunities for, collection services and infrastructure as a result of DRS. In addition, we are reviewing the Scottish Household Recycling Charter Code of Practice to take account of the impact of DRS, and ZWS Scotland will continue to offer a range of advice and support to local authorities.

Question reference: S5W-25500

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take to raise public awareness of the landfill ban on biodegradable waste.

The Scottish Government has written to a wide range of stakeholders to make them aware of the position.

The general public have an important role to play in reducing the amount of materials they throw into their residual waste. They can do this by using less and recycling more. The recently published Food Waste Reduction Action Plan will help with this, as will the wide range of consumer campaigns run by Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland throughout each year.

It is important to note that the ban itself will be enforced at landfill sites. SEPA has already published guidance on implementing the ban and has written to stakeholders to ensure awareness and establish their state of readiness. In addition Zero Waste Scotland is developing communications material for use by commercial operators to increase awareness of the ban amongst their customers.

Question reference: S5W-25499

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25254 by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 September 2019, whether glass collected via its proposed deposit return system could be recycled outwith Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-25327

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of ERDF funds allocated by Zero Waste Scotland, and how much remains unallocated for (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20.

Zero Waste Scotland is lead partner for the Resource Efficient Circular Economy Accelerator Programme in the current round of European Structural Funds in Scotland.

The funds allocated in the financial years requested are set out in the following table.

	Budget (£m)	Allocated (£m)	Unallocated (£m)
(a) 2018-19	5.5	4.3	1.2
(b) 2019-20	4.6	4.6	0

Note that these amounts include Scottish Government match funding.

Question reference: S5W-25330

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24295 by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 August 2019, what representation (a) the glass manufacturing industry and (b) consumers will have on the deposit return scheme Implementation Advisory Group.

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) was established as a forum to engage with representatives of producers and retailers, as the sectors which will be directly involved in operating DRS.

In addition to the IAG we continue to engage with interested parties on DRS including the glass industry and consumers. Scottish Government officials most recently met with representatives of the glass sector on 27 and 28 August 2019; in-depth qualitative research work with consumers is being taken forward as part of a programme of wider engagement in preparation for the scheme’s implementation.

Question reference: S5W-25326

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23388 by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 June 2019, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £3,162,000 spent on the deposit return scheme by Zero Waste Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-25254

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what impact a deposit return system that includes glass will have on the availability of glass recyclate for remanufacture in Scotland.

According to the best available evidence, the current recycling rate for glass sits at 64%. The introduction of deposit return will significantly increase the quantity and quality of glass recyclate, creating an aggregated and high-quality feedstock for reprocessing. We are committed to working with industry to maximise the economic opportunities associated with this.

There is a duty in the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 for local authorities to provide a collection for glass: they will continue to collect glass not captured by DRS.

Question reference: S5T-01792

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that it meets its new target for banning biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill.

Budget Line	2019-20 Budget £000s
Communications	605
Operations	835
Securing re-processing capacity and determining the impact on existing infrastructure	130
Stakeholder engagement	230
Total Programme Delivery	1,800