Chamber and committees

I have asked Zero Waste Scotland's Chief Executive to contact the Member to provide the information requested.

The Scottish Government has not commissioned any research regarding the potential effects of increased circular economic activity on the labour market. Our circular economy strategy identifies the potential economic and environmental opportunities underpinning the prioritisation of our actions. We would expect the employment benefits of these interventions to become clearer as implementation proceeds.

This information is not held centrally.

However, through our Switched on Fleets programme we have supported the purchase or leasing of around 400 Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles across the public sector in Scotland.

The initial implementation of the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 was focussed on communication and awareness raising. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) worked in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) and waste service providers to co-ordinate messages, produce leaflets, use radio, print and social media and talk to trade bodies and businesses. This was very successful with a ZWS awareness tracking study showing a rise from 15% business awareness to over 80% by the end of the campaign (samples of 500 random businesses).

In 2015, twenty-five local authorities undertook compliance sampling in a total of 6752 premises across Scotland. The results are summarised below:

• 62% of premises were fully compliant

• 20% were making some efforts to comply

• 18% were still using a single general waste service, i.e. making no effort to recycle

In order to reach those still failing to comply, 130,000 information leaflets were distributed to waste producers via partner organisations in November 2015.

The leaflets were also distributed to local authority waste enforcement & environmental health officers. In addition, local authorities, ZWS, Resource Efficient Scotland (RES) and Netregs all developed accessible information and other support material to enable businesses to comply.

A total of six businesses have been identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as being non-compliant for
6 months. These businesses have been given advice and a letter from SEPA setting out how to comply. Further inspections to confirm that they have become compliant with the Waste Regulations are scheduled in November 2017.

No businesses have been identified by SEPA as being non-compliant for 12 months or more.

In 2016, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) was granted powers by the Scottish Parliament to use civil penalties including a Fixed Monetary Penalty (FMP) of £300. SEPA identified the duty for businesses to separate material for recycling as a suitable area to utilise this new enforcement tool and designed an enforcement campaign targeting the most persistent offenders.

In partnership with service providers, SEPA identified around 75 businesses across Scotland which had previously been unwilling to recycle. Following further inspections, over 90% of these businesses changed behaviour.

Of the businesses identified as being long term non compliant, two FMPs have been issued for persistent failure to separate food waste and further inspections of the others are scheduled for November 2017.

As announced at the annual Scottish Resources Conference on the 27 September 2017, 17 awards have been offered through the Circular Economy Investment Fund totalling over £4.2 million.

Fish are not released deliberately from fish farms, with the exception of those businesses who supply put and take fisheries for the provision of sport angling. On occasion circumstances may cause the escape of fish from fish farms. The Scottish Government is not considering making the escape of farmed fish an offence. The Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007 requires that fish farms have satisfactory measures in place to contain fish, prevent escapes and recover escaped fish. In addition the Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (as amended) require fish farms to immediately notify Scottish Ministers of any escape of farmed fish or of the circumstances which gave rise to a significant risk of an escape of farmed fish and failure to comply with requirements may result in service of an enforcement notice, suspension or revocation of the Authorisation to operate as an Aquaculture Production Business or proceedings for an offence.

Fish farmers are required to submit an escape initial notification form which includes details of any of any treatments administered for which the fish are in a withdrawal as detailed in Schedule 1C of The Aquatic Animal Health (Miscellaneous Modifications) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. This could include treatments completed greater than four weeks prior to the escape. Fish farmers are not required to notify of recent treatments for which there is no withdrawal period.

The detailed impacts of electric vehicle (EV) uptake and integration will depend on many factors, including the increasing use of smart technologies to manage the interface between EVs and the electricity networks, as well as the ways in which future networks are operated and regulated. The Scottish Government will work closely with Ofgem, and with the network owners and operators, as these solutions and approaches are developed.