Chamber and committees

Deposit return represents a cost effective mechanism through which businesses will meet their producer responsibility obligations to manage packaging at end of life. In line with the principle of extended producer responsibility, it is for producers rather than Government to meet those costs. The Scottish Government will, however, continue to be engaged around the financing of the scheme as part of the work of the Implementation Advisory Group.

The Scottish Government will shortly publish: a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment offering an analysis of the costs and benefits to business associated with implementation of a deposit return scheme; an Equality Impact Assessment outlining the impact of deposit return on different groups in society; and a Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment describing the impact of deposit return on inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage.

Where a single-use drinks container sold online is delivered to a consumer in Scotland, a deposit will be applied to that container. Retailers that provide a delivery service will be required to provide a doorstep takeback service. We are considering further what duties should apply to online sales which are fulfilled using a postal or courier delivery service.

The Scottish Government published its Deposit Return Scheme Full Business Case Stage 1 on 8 May 2019. That Business Case sets out the cost to producers of operating the scheme once all revenues generated from unredeemed deposits and material sales are accounted for. This is presented in the form of a producer fee.

The Deposit Return Scheme Full Business Case Stage 2 will be progressed over the remainder of this year, providing further technical and commercial detail on the scheme’s operation. As part of this, further information will be gathered in respect of the processing costs per material in order to derive a producer fee by material type.

The Scottish Government’s Deposit Return Scheme Full Business Case Stage 1 was published on 8 May 2019 and includes assessment of the range of impacts on local authorities as a result of the introduction of a deposit return scheme. We continue to discuss those impacts with local government.

The Scottish Government has ambitious targets for recycling and there will continue to be a need for effective household collection arrangements alongside DRS. We have recently concluded a public consultation on proposals for a reformed packaging producer responsibility scheme which would result in more money going from producers to local authorities to cover the costs of operating those services.

The Scottish Government will bring forward regulations to establish a deposit return scheme for single-use drinks containers in the coming months.

We are working with the UK Government on the interaction between DRS and the existing packaging obligations. Our intention is that producers will not pay into the PRN system for containers obligated under the DRS .

The Scottish Government’s proposals are based on retailers receiving a handling fee to cover their costs. Hospitality businesses will be reimbursed the costs of any consumables required when acting as a return point and will accrue a benefit from having free uplift of materials where they generally have to pay a collection fee at present. The Deposit Return Scheme Full Business Case Stage 1 was published by the Scottish Government on 8 May and provides further detail on the operation of these arrangements.

Where businesses choose to accept automated returns, the Scottish Government is committed to exploring how the financing of reverse vending machines can be supported.

Under the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 , local authorities are responsible for care planning, which includes assessing the immediate and long term needs of every looked after child. The legislation and supporting guidance also make clear the process and timescales by which a Child’s Plan must be developed, monitored and reviewed. As every child is unique, the support, including therapeutic support, should be built around their identified needs.

The turnover of Children & Families Social Work staff is a matter for individual local authorities to address.

The Scottish Government is delivering an overall funding package of £11.2 billion to local authorities in 2019-20 This is a real terms increase of over £310 million on the 2018-19 funding settlement, equivalent to 2.9%, enabling local authorities to deliver essential public services, including Children & Families Social Work services.

Work in progress under Part 2 of the National Health & Social Care Workforce Plan, co-published with COSLA, aims to support workforce planning for health and social services and to help address current recruitment and retention issues in the sector.