Chamber and committees

Scottish Government requires that fish farms submit information on treatments administered to farmed fish for which they are in withdrawal, in addition to site disease information and mortality rates, in order to inform the fish health inspectorate of fish health at the time of escape. Scottish Government is considering adapting its current publication system to include this information.

The risk to the public of consuming treated escaped farmed salmon is negligible.

The minimum criteria businesses must meet to be considered "fully compliant" with the duty are to:

• take all reasonable steps to ensure the separate collection of dry recyclable waste, and/or

• take all reasonable steps to ensure the separate collection of food waste produced by the food business (where a rural exemption is not applicable).

As defined in amendments made by the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 to Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, this can be summarised as:

• Segregating all target dry recyclables (plastics, metal, glass, paper & cardboard) generated. Businesses will be expected to have and use an internal material segregation system that matches an external recycling collection service from an authorised provider. Recyclables should be free of contamination, e.g. glass should be separately collected from paper and cardboard.

• SEPA’s Food Waste Management Guidance sets out the expectations across the food waste supply chain in order to achieve high quality recycling. Only food waste managed in accordance with this guidance will fulfil the waste acceptance permit condition at food waste treatment facilities. https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/219841/wst-g-049-food-waste-management-in-scotland.pdf.

• All businesses must be compliant with duty of care for waste as set out in the Scottish Government's statutory Duty of Care Code of Practice.

The Scottish Government has no position on those investigating actual or potential animal welfare crime publishing information of these activities, other than to advise them strongly to remain within the applicable law, notably the Contempt of Court Act 1981. Such organisations may publish information as they see fit, although they are unlikely to do so if this will prejudice investigations or potential prosecutions. Organisations whose investigations have resulted in a successful prosecution often publicise the decision of the Courts.

The Scottish Government does not maintain a central register of reports as there is no single definition of a report. We have not conducted a review of reports published or unpublished. We have a commitment to open government including pro-active publication where possible. Scottish Government also follows the Model Publication Scheme developed and approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner.

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

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 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.

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.