Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and public bodies listed as “Major Players” under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 publish information on Adaptation in their Public Bodies Climate Change Reports which are available here:- https://sustainablescotlandnetwork.org/reports/ .

The Scottish Government holds 72 core property assets on its estate. Of these, 17 are owned and 55 are held on lease or occupancy agreements.

This information is not held centrally. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of arrests made by the police.

The Scottish Government (SG) utilises condition based monitoring and maintenance in all its buildings. There are 72 core property assets on its estate. Of these, 17 are owned and 55 are held on lease or occupancy agreements.

All major ICT infrastructure and SG fleet vehicles are maintained in accordance with manufacturers’ guidelines.

Individual public bodies maintain their own assets. This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold information in relation to requirements for whole-life carbon footprinting or costing that are included in call off contracts from its framework agreements. The framework public body calling off from the framework agreement is responsible for setting any specific requirements in relation to environmental issues.

The Sustainable Procurement Duty requires public bodies to consider how they can improve economic, social and environmental wellbeing. To support this, Scottish Government has developed a number of tools that have been adopted for use by public bodies when developing their commodity/sourcing strategies. One of these tools is the Sustainability Test , which is designed to help embed relevant and proportionate sustainability requirements in the development of frameworks and contracts.

Scottish Procurement uses the Sustainability Test in all regulated procurements to assess whether environmental requirements are relevant and proportionate to the procurement. Some examples of where environmental requirements have been included are as follows:

1. General Stationery and Office Paper Framework – The supplier produces a yearly Environmental and Sustainability Report and has introduced a new system called “sign it, track it” which provides complete visibility of overall cost of deliveries and times (cost and quality of service) but also measures CO2 implications on deliveries. The supplier also reports on products that are environmentally friendly. Scottish Government includes a minimum order value to discourage low value orders that affect the environment.

2. Desktop and Mobile Devices Framework - All devices supplied under the framework meet or exceed minimum energy efficiency levels based on the latest Energy Star standards. Devices are also required to meet or exceed the Green Electronics Council’s EPEAT Gold compliance standard which requires devices to be manufactured to meet specific sustainability criteria that address the the full product lifecycle, from design and production to energy use and recycling.

The following information is held for the Scottish Government’s core property assets.

Zero assets have end-of-life or adaptability plans. Assets out with the core property estate are a matter for individual public bodies. This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government holds 72 core property assets on its estate. Of these, 17 are owned and 55 are held on lease or occupancy agreements. In addition three buildings have been identified as surplus to requirements.

Core property holdings should be kept to the minimum required to meet current and planned operational needs. Our owned buildings are current assets which are to be used for the foreseeable future and as such there are no-end-of life or adaptability plans available. Assets are subject to ongoing review and should a building be identified as surplus it would be processed under the guidance for disposal of surplus assets contained within the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/spfm/PropertyManagement

For core property assets held on lease or occupancy agreements, landlords generally transfer responsibility for maintenance of the property during the leased period to the tenant. A legal agreement (lease) will require the Scottish Government to return the building in an agreed condition and repair. Under the SPFM officers have a duty to properly manage assets including determining any repairs or work that may be required at the end of the lease, known as dilapidations. The scope of works and timescale is determined by the legal agreement. The end of the lease agreement is not usually the end-of-life of the asset.

Our delivery partner, Zero Waste Scotland, ran a pilot for Absorbent Hygiene Product collection in 2012-13 that provided funding to four Councils. Since then there has been no funding specifically for Absorbent Hygiene Product collection, although we are working to implement the ban on general biodegradable material going to landfill which includes Absorbent Hygiene Products.

An additional 795kt incineration capacity, over and above that which currently exists, will be operational in Scotland by the start of 2021. A further 385kt is expected to become operational in the year following the ban. We continue to keep developments in the sector under review and are commissioning a waste markets study to consider future requirements.

There is no specific funding to reduce the number of Absorbent Hygiene Products going to landfill or incineration. Our work is focussed on reducing all waste and helping Scotland implement a ban on biodegradable municipal waste (that includes Absorbent Hygiene Products) waste to landfill by January 2021.

While the use of powers contained within the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 is an operational matter for local authorities, the Scottish Government collects data on the use of dog control notices by local authorities under the 2010 Act. 

A table has been lodged with SPIce detailing information on the use of the 2010 Act since it came into force in February 2011. This has reference BIB 59967.

On 28 June 2018, the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee launched a call for evidence as part of their post-legislative scrutiny of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010. The Committee's call for evidence closes on ‎ 5 October and can be found at the following link:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/109013.aspx

The Scottish Government will engage with the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee as post-legislative scrutiny of the 2010 Act is undertaken.