- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the Scottish National Investment Bank’s investment activity has been used to support companies able to demonstrate both carbon and material savings.
Answer
National Investment Bank sets out in detail its approach to assessing its impact, and its impact to date, in its annual Impact Report. That sets out how the Bank works across its portfolio to assess emissions generated, to support emissions mitigation and to support circular economy initiatives where possible.
In particular, the member may wish to be aware that the Bank has committed to adopt the Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations as its climate risk and reporting framework. It has further committed that from financial year 2023/24 all investments will involve a commitment to develop a Carbon Management or Net Zero plan, thereby ensuring that all the Bank’s capital supports Scotland’s transition to net zero. The Bank is also working with current investees to support them in the development of such plans and strategies. The Bank then reports on emissions associated with its investment activity through its annual Impact report.
The Bank’s Impact Report 2023 is available at: https://www.thebank.scot/impact-report .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scotland’s rail (a) track, (b) vehicle kilometres and (c) freight journeys are electrified.
Answer
In Scotland 40.7% single-track railway kilometres are electrified.
The Scottish Government does not hold vehicle kilometres information centrally, however some 76% of passenger journeys are made by electric train.
The volume, route and traction type for rail freight varies considerably from year to year. It is estimated that in the financial year 2022 to 2023, 50% of rail freight moved in Scotland was electrically hauled.
A considerable constraint on increasing this proportion is the number of freight terminals and ports at the other end of rail freight journeys in England that remain unelectrified.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has carried out since 2021 to identify potential second-life stationary storage applications for electric vehicle batteries.
Answer
Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the entire length of the battery supply chain, from manufacturing to predicted quantities available at end of life. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland.
More recently the Scottish Government commissioned further research with Zero Waste Scotland to identify what practical actions Scotland could take to encourage and benefit from a circular economy - encouraging the reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling of electric vehicle batteries. This research will be published in due course.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of any meetings that it has held with original equipment manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries in the past three years to explore opportunities to site manufacturing and/or reprocessing facilities in Scotland.
Answer
As part of its regular engagements with the Scottish and global battery supply chain, Scottish Enterprise have held meetings with AMTE which Scottish Government officials have joined. The relevant information will be placed in SPICe bib number 64366.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of electric vehicle batteries reaching the end of their first life it expects to be caught by domestic reprocessing options by (a) 2035 and (b) 2050.
Answer
Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the entire length of the battery supply chain, from chemicals to end of life. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland. This research suggests that by 2030 there could be up to 16000 tonnes of vehicle batteries available in Scotland for second life purposes.
Due to the novelty of batteries being used in their second life the market opportunities and business models for their use or disposal are not currently certain. Current UK Extended Producer Responsibility legislation dictates that the battery manufacturer remains responsible for the collection, recycling and disposal of the battery, meaning that it will be at the manufacturer’s discretion whether they use a domestic reprocessing facility located in Scotland or the UK
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the quantity of any critical minerals captured through urban mining in each of the past three years in Scotland.
Answer
Urban mining” is not a term that is in use by the Scottish Government, but we understand it to refer to the recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
The WEEE Regulations 2013, which are the regulations underpinning WEEE recycling in the UK, do not require information on recovery of critical minerals to be reported and so the Scottish Government does not hold this information. Along with the other UK governments, we intend to consult later this year on a suite of reforms to the WEEE Regulations; we are considering as part of that measures to increase the recovery of critical raw materials.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting efforts to explore potential reserves of critical minerals in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of critical minerals for the future prosperity of Scotland.
Critical mineral mining relates to powers reserved to the UK Government, and the Scottish Government is supportive of the UK Critical Minerals Strategy. This sets out the UK’s vision and actions to improve the resilience of its critical mineral supply chain through signposting financial support opportunities for UK critical minerals businesses.
The Scottish Government is committed to working with the UK government to explore the potential reserves of critical minerals in Scotland and to ensure their secure and sustainable supply.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to explore the potential for lithium refining in Scotland.
Answer
Officials and our Enterprise Agencies are open to dialogue with potential inward investors in the lithium refining sector and we are committed to exploring all commercially viable proposals to establish lithium refining capacity in Scotland.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in removing highly combustible cladding from buildings.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 September 2023
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when the financial appraisal of the proposed Scottish Veterinary Service will conclude, and whether the findings will be published in detail or summary format.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to the creation of a Scottish Veterinary Service (SVS) to ensure there are highly trained staff to provide Scotland with good animal health and food safety to meet all our needs across the public and private sector for animal health issues.
A Programme has been established to manage the work required to create an SVS, which includes determining which functions the Service should deliver, and conducting a financial appraisal of the operational and investment costs of the Service.
The financial appraisal will be refined throughout the programme as actual costs are better understood, as is standard practice, and the conclusions will be communicated in due course.
