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-12926

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what public awareness activities it has undertaken to inform people of the correct disposal method for batteries.

In spring 2021, Zero Waste Scotland ran a campaign, Batteries Are Better Recycled, encouraging the public to recycle batteries, and how to do it correctly.

The campaign was delivered through local and national media, videos and digital, alongside proactive engagement with local authorities across Scotland. Since the campaign, ZWS continue to share key campaign messages and assets through their channels.

I would also note that the Environmental Services Association relaunched its national ‘Take Charge’ campaign in October 2022, with the aim of urging everyone to recycle batteries and electronic devices responsibly.

Question reference: S6W-12925

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on battery recycling collection points in each local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-12876

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how projects funded through the Recycling Improvement Fund have delivered (a) increased frequency of recycling collections, (b) extended food and garden waste collections, (c) increased recycling capacity for problematic materials and (d) increased local authority compliance with the Household Recycling Charter.

Proposed impacts of individual projects are captured at both assessment stage and subsequent monitoring stages of each project.

The Recycling Improvement Fund has funded the following projects under these headings:

(a) increased frequency of recycling collections

Council	Summary of impact on (a)	Total project grant (£m)
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	Expansion of collection services to rural areas.	£0.8m
East Lothian	Charter aligned single weekly pass service for source separated kerbside recycling and food waste.	£2.7m
Perth & Kinross	Expansion of recycling service.	£2.6m

(b) extended food and garden waste collections

Council	Summary of impact on (b)	Total project grant (£m)
Aberdeenshire	Service change to align with Charter and increased food waste collection.	£3.4m
East Lothian	Charter aligned single weekly pass service for source separated kerbside recycling and food waste.	£2.7m
Highland	Introduction of an additional, chargeable garden waste service.	£0.2m
Midlothian	Expansion of food waste recycling service to a further 1,800 rural properties.	£0.1m

Council

Summary of impact on (c)

Total project grant (£m)

Fife

TOMRA plastic film sorting

equipment, allowing collection of film from all households

in Fife.

£0.4m

North Ayrshire

Mattress cleaner to allow mattress

reuse/recycling.

£0.07m

(d) increased local authority compliance with the Household Recycling Charter.

Council	Summary of impact on (d)	Total project grant (£m)
Aberdeenshire	Service change to align with Charter and increased food waste collection.	£3.4m
East Lothian	Charter aligned single weekly pass service for source separated kerbside recycling and food waste.	£2.7m
West Lothian	Introduction of a kerbside service change to move to twin stream recycling to comply with the Code of Practice.	£4.04m
South Ayrshire	On-the-go recycling in local community parks, that align with charter.	£0.09m

Question reference: S6W-13169

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there is a need for future monitoring and evaluation of the Deposit Return Scheme and, if so, whether (a) it or (b) Circularity Scotland will fund it.

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) Regulations require the Scottish Government to carry out a review of DRS before 1 October 2026.

The Scottish Government has commissioned external consumer research to provide a baseline and follow ups on recycling and awareness and uptake of DRS and any related barriers. This research is being undertaken by an experienced team from Union Advertising. The Scottish Government is also undertaking work with Zero Waste Scotland and Keep Scotland Beautiful to collate data through the Litter Management System survey on the impacts of DRS on on-the-ground litter.

Question reference: S6W-13037

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether a dedicated anti-fraud team has been established to tackle potentially fraudulent activity in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme, and when any such team was established.

Question reference: S6W-13231

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is engaging with the digital deposit return trial being run by Ocado, and whether it has requested that Zero Waste Scotland reviews the results.

The Scottish Government has not engaged with Ocado regarding its digital deposit return trial.

We would anticipate that industry will make extensive use of digital technology in delivering our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), for example by developing an IT system to track payments made and received, adopting state-of-the-art reverse vending technology to prevent fraud, and using digital media to communicate with the public regarding DRS.

We are aware of the so-called ‘digital DRS’ as a proposed approach to delivering deposit return whereby consumers redeem deposits on scheme articles by scanning them with a smartphone before placing them in their kerbside recycling. We considered this approach during the policy-development process for DRS and the strong feedback from both industry and environmental NGOs was that the technology is not sufficiently mature for implementation on the timetable for our DRS.

Question reference: S6W-12880

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what the (a) claimant count and (b) unemployment rate in Dundee has been in each of the last five years, broken down by ward area.

The claimant count rate for Dundee City local authority and 2021 electoral wards within Dundee City are shown in table 1 for November 2018 to November 2022.

The model based unemployment rate for Dundee City local authority are shown in table 2 for years Jul 2017-Jun 2018 to Jul 2021-Jun 2022. Model based estimates of unemployment are the official source for unemployment rates by local authority. Unemployment rates by electoral ward are not available from this source.

Table 1: Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 years

Area	November 2018	November 2019	November 2020	November 2021	November 2022
ladu:Dundee City	4.2	4.6	7.1	5.1	4.1
ward2021:S13002548 : Coldside	6.1	6.9	10.4	7.5	5.7
ward2021:S13002551 : East End	5.8	6.9	10.2	7.5	6.0
ward2021:S13002546 : Lochee	6.5	6.9	9.2	7.1	6.1
ward2021:S13002549 : Maryfield	4.5	4.4	6.8	4.9	4.4
ward2021:S13002830 : North East	4.1	4.6	7.4	4.9	4.0
ward2021:S13002545 : Strathmartine	4.1	4.4	7.3	4.9	3.8
ward2021:S13002552 : The Ferry	1.1	1.1	2.8	1.4	1.3
ward2021:S13002547 : West End	2.3	2.4	4.1	3.0	2.4

Source: Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (nomisweb.co.uk)

Claimant count by sex and age

Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 years

Rates for local authorities from 2020 onwards are calculated using the mid-2020 resident population aged 16-64.

Under Universal Credit a broader span of claimants are required to look for work than under Jobseeker's Allowance. As Universal Credit Full Service is rolled out in particular areas, the number of people recorded as being on the Claimant Count is therefore likely to rise.

Table 2: Model based estimates of unemployment Dundee City local authority

	Unemployment rate (model based)
Jul 2017-Jun 2018	6.0
Jul 2018-Jun 2019	6.4
Jul 2019-Jun 2020	4.3
Jul 2020-Jun 2021	5.3
Jul 2021-Jun 2022	4.8

Source: Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (nomisweb.co.uk)

Model-based estimates of unemployment

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

Question reference: S6W-12884

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many retailers are currently using Deposit Return Scheme return points on a voluntary basis.

The Scottish Government does not keep a record of the number of retailers currently operating return points on a voluntary basis.

We understand that a number of businesses are trialling or have already trialled the use of reverse vending machines in their premises in Scotland and welcome their commitment to ensuring their readiness for the launch of the UK’s first Deposit Return Scheme on 16 August 2023.

Question reference: S6F-01661

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reported warnings that the implementation of the Deposit Return Scheme will be "ruinous for consumers and businesses".

Question reference: S6W-12883

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 19 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many homes in Scotland have been insulated with support from government funding in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.