Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-19395

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18498 by Lorna Slater on 16 June 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding whether notification was received in accordance with the request made in the cabinet secretary’s letter of 24 March 2021; if notification was not received, which provision in the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Amendment Regulations 2022 applied in retroactively nullifying the request for notification and its potential status as a material change in circumstances, and, if no such provision exists, whether it will provide a copy of the ministerial action that was taken to nullify the request from the cabinet secretary.

The Scottish Government does not hold a record of a formal notification of a material change in circumstances in relation to this matter, however as mentioned previously in my response to S6W-18498, the letter and anticipated schedule to which the member refers was in the context of a scheme launch date of July 2022.

Following an independent Gateway Review in June 2021, the Scottish Government confirmed that it would conduct a review of that go live date, with input from Circularity Scotland, industry and independent advice. Issues relating to the design and delivery of the scheme were taken in to account during the review process.

As a result of that review, the Scottish Parliament voted to move the launch date of DRS from July 2022 to August 2023. This decision made the previous request for information irrelevant due to the change in the launch date for the scheme.

Question reference: S6W-19648

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19249 by Lorna Slater on 28 June 2023, whether the corporate running costs for Zero Waste Scotland have been revised since the level 4 budget data was released, and which Zero Waste Scotland budget figures are correct for each of the previous three years.

The budget figures provided in answer S6W-18435 on 14 June 2023, further clarified in response to question S6W-19249, relate to the Scottish Government’s budget for its Zero Waste programmes which, in addition to Deposit Return, supports major circular economy delivery programmes including implementation of Circular Economy Bill and Waste Route Map, Extended Producer Responsibility, incineration research, landfill remediation, recycling, single-use plastics, litter and flytipping, and funding for Zero Waste Scotland to support delivery of Scottish Government objectives.

As per Table 9.12: Environmental Services Spending Plans (Level 3) in the published budgets documents, the Zero Waste budget was £ 40.2m in 2021-22, £43.4m in 2022-23 and £ 47.4m in 2023-24. These figures are inclusive of Scottish Government corporate running costs (CRCs); the amount of CRC has not been revised since the data was published. Annex G of the Scottish Government Budget 2019-20 provides a full explanation of CRCs as this was the first year they were introduced.

Scottish Government provided Zero Waste Scotland with grant awards of £29.6m in 2021-22, £35.6m in 2022-23 and to date, £34.3m, in 2023/24 from the Zero Waste budget.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-19650

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much it cost to produce the Zero Waste Scotland report, Scoping policy options for Scotland focusing on understanding and managing the environmental impact of single use e-cigarettes.

Question reference: S6W-19836

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 21 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce (a) Whole Life Carbon Assessments and (b) Circular Economy Statements for large-scale developments.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), adopted and published on 13 February 2023, sets out that development proposals will be sited and designed to minimise lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions as far as possible.

All national developments designated in NPF4 were subject to an assessment, undertaken by independent consultants, of the likely impact of each proposed national development’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions on achieving national greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets.

The Scottish Government has engaged with Zero Waste Scotland and leading experts on whole life emission reporting and the topic will be considered further in the development of Scotland’s next Climate Change Plan.

Where development proposals are likely to generate waste when operational, including residential, commercial, and industrial properties, NPF4 policy 12c) sets out that proposals will set out how much waste is expected to be generated and how it will be managed.

Question reference: S6W-19789

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it discussed establishing a shared common programme to identify workstream and stakeholder activity interactions prior to the fourth Deposit Return Scheme gateway review, and, if so, when any such discussions took place.

The deposit return scheme is designed to be industry led and managed. The Scottish Government convened and chaired a System Wide Assurance Group with industry representatives to assess system-wide readiness and to monitor and address risks to delivery. Members were responsible for progressing common issues. Following the March 2023 gateway review we established an expanded governance framework which includes representation from a wider group of stakeholders. This includes a Ministerial Strategic Assurance Group, which sits above the already established Executive Oversight Group and Sector Specific Working Groups.

Question reference: S6W-19578

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19148 by Lorna Slater on 27 June 2023, whether it will (a) publish the data that it states was provided by Zero Waste Scotland and (b) confirm that neither it or Zero Waste Scotland hold a copy of the underlying efficiency studies provided by WRAP, and for what reason the underlying efficiency studies could not be retained by it or Zero Waste Scotland.

Neither Scottish Government nor Zero Waste Scotland retain the data or own the research undertaken by WRAP. Queries on the data and publication status should be directed to WRAP.

The figure from WRAP was used to engage stakeholders through the Circular Economy Route Map consultation. The data referred to was also previously cited in the UK wide consultation on extended producer responsibility for packaging, which closed on 4 June 2021.

Zero Waste Scotland subsequently published detailed research on commercial waste zoning ( https://cdn.zerowastescotland.org.uk/managed-downloads/mf-l4c68iko-1686671978d ).

Question reference: S6W-19579

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19150 by Lorna Slater on 27 June 2023, whether its response also applies to the commercial waste sector.

Question reference: S6W-19788

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it required the establishment of a minimum viable product from applicants to be a Deposit Return Scheme administrator, and, if not, for what reason such a requirement was not deemed necessary.

The information to be contained in an application for scheme administrator approval is set out in Schedule 2 of the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 as passed by the Scottish Parliament. The design and operational detail of the scheme is a matter for the scheme administrator. Following the March 2023 gateway review, scoping work was commenced to finalise a Target Operating Model. This work has been paused due to the UK Government’s 11th hour intervention which undermined Scotland’s deposit return scheme.

Question reference: S6W-19787

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to appoint directors to the board of any future Deposit Return Scheme administrator.

Question reference: S6W-19577

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18920 by Lorna Slater on 22 June 2023, whether it will provide details of the composition of the Specialist Advisory Group.

The SEFARI (Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutions) gateway, who are administering the Specialist Advisory Group on waste emissions on behalf of the Scottish Government, received a number of notes of interest from waste specialists to join the Specialist Advisory Group. However, as of the date of this response, SEFARI have not yet issued contracts for the specialists on the group. We are therefore not able to provide details on the composition of the Specialist Advisory Group until these contracts have been finalised.