- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether Circularity Scotland is subject to the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, and whether it is required to openly tender above threshold procurement opportunities.
Answer
Circularity Scotland (CSL) is a private non-profit organisation and as such is not subject to the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide details of the procurement procedure used by Circularity Scotland in appointing Biffa as the official waste collection and logistics service provider, and what information it holds on how this contract opportunity was advertised.
Answer
Circularity Scotland (CSL) are a private non-profit organisation and are therefore not subject to public procurement requirements. Decisions regarding their contracts are for them – this is entirely appropriate for a scheme that has industry responsibility at its heart. CSL carried out an extensive tender process over a period of around 12 months before appointing Biffa to be the scheme’s official logistics service provider.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how the education system encourages a better understanding of circular economy principles and skills.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when NatureScot plans to publish a progress report in relation to each of the 92 recommendations that were accepted by the Scottish Government of the Deer Working Group’s report, The Management of Wild Deer in Scotland.
Answer
We will publish an update on each of the accepted Deer Working Group recommendations, alongside minutes from the December meeting of the Deer Management Strategic Board shortly. This will be available, alongside minutes of previous meetings, on the Board’s webpages here: Deer Management Strategic Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how often NatureScot has used its full enforcement powers, in light of the direction from the Scottish Ministers in 2017 that the then Scottish Natural Heritage “take a tougher approach to dealing with non-cooperative landowners, using the full range of enforcement powers at its disposal”.
Answer
NatureScot has a range of legislative powers available to them under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996. A summary of how NatureScot has used those powers since 2017 has been provided in the following table:
Section of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 | Description | Extent of use since 2017 |
6A | Requirement for deer management plan | 1 |
7 | Control Agreement | Control agreements in operation each year 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 | 5 5 5 3 3 2 2 |
|
8 | Control Scheme | None. |
10 | Emergency Powers | 5 |
40 | Statutory Return | Requests are sent to 3300 properties annually. NatureScot received returns from 2730 in 21/22. A further 1500 properties have submitted returns between 2017 and 2022. |
40A | Require number planned to be killed | None. |
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the process used to set up and install Circularity Scotland as scheme administrator for the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Government released information regarding Circularity Scotland’s application to Scottish Ministers to become a scheme administrator for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, in response to an information request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. The information released in response to that request was published on the Scottish Government website on 22 January 2022 under reference FOI/202200276068.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the public funds used by (a) it and (b) its agencies, in each of the last 12 months, to support (i) Circularity Scotland and (ii) Deposit Return Scheme-related activities.
Answer
Previous requests under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 have provided information on the costs associated with the creation of the Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland and are published on the Scottish Government website. As of 18 May 2022 it cost the Scottish Government £182,722 to set up DRS including costs associated with preparing legislation, consulting, evaluation, and independent reviews and assurance. The Scottish Government is open to further requests for information under both FOISA (2002) and EIR (2004).
Previous requests under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 have provided information on the costs associated with the creation of the Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland and are published on the Scottish Government website. As of 18 May 2022 it cost the Scottish Government £182,722 to set up DRS including costs associated with preparing legislation, consulting, evaluation, and independent reviews and assurance. The Scottish Government is open to further requests for information under both FOISA (2002) and EIR (2004).
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its communication with drinks suppliers outside of Scotland to inform them of the Deposit Return Scheme, and which companies it has informed of the scheme in each of the last 12 months, also broken down by country or region.
Answer
Drinks importers that buy products from supplier outside of Scotland have the same requirement as drinks producers to register with the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme to meet their legal obligations. Circularity Scotland as the scheme administrator is rightfully leading on engagement with businesses, including drinks importers, to help them register with the scheme.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14359 by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023, whether it will provide a breakdown of any actions that it has taken to ensure that manufacturing work to construct reverse vending machines for the Deposit Return Scheme is completed by Scottish companies.
Answer
In line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle, and just like similar schemes around the world, Scotland’s deposit return scheme is being delivered and funded by industry, led by the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland. It is therefore the responsibility of individual businesses to procure any Reverse Vending Machines they may require.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14359 by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023, which states that the "Deposit Return Scheme is an industry-led scheme, delivered by industry, led by the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd”, whether it is the case that industry can change the launch date of the scheme, and, if so, by what process.
Answer
The launch date for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme is set in the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020. This can only be changed by amending Regulations approved by the Scottish Parliament.