- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2024
To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the call from the Federation of Small Business Scotland for the next UK administration to pilot a remote visa to benefit remote areas such as the Highlands, in line with the Migration Advisory Committee recommendation, and any implications that this could have for Scotland’s economy.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2024
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve data collection, mapping and tracking of critical minerals and other material streams within electrical and electronic equipment.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to S6W-27838 on 7 June 2024. 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 .
The Scottish Government is also working on a joint 4-nations consultation on digital waste tracking which notes our intention to track waste through to end of waste products or materials that are produced from waste. The digital waste tracking will improve the quality of waste data and make it easier to identify opportunities to keep materials in use for as long as possible and ensure nothing is wasted, including material streams within electrical and electronic equipment.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support world-class research into sustainable materials, including those limiting emissions along entire material and product lifecycles.
Answer
The Scottish Government is taking significant steps to imbed the principles of a Circular Economy, enabling the increased recovery of sustainable materials, including those limiting emissions along entire material and product lifecycles. Within our draft Circular Economy Route Map the Scottish Government has also committed to creating a Product Stewardship Strategy, with the aim of minimising the health, safety, environmental and social impacts of products. We will focus on policies and activities which have the greatest environmental and economic impact while continuing to encourage best practice by all businesses and consumers, with the aim to produce, consume and manage resources as effectively as possible. We are engaging with research from ZWS, SEPA and other partners, along with looking at best practice internationally to ensure the policy interventions in this area are not only effective but as impactful as possible.
Alongside this, the 2023 Programme for Government outlined that we would continue to work on how we will help businesses and investors to realise the enormous economic opportunities of the global transition to net zero and create good, well-paid jobs across Scotland. Work is already happening at pace in various areas including how best to use and support research with the aim of capturing economic benefit from the transition to net zero.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to (a) investing in and (b) incentivising resource-efficient design, production and processes for e-waste products.
Answer
Between 28 December 2023 and 7 March 2024, the Scottish Government, along with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments, held a consultation on reforming the producer responsibility system for waste electricals and electronic equipment (WEEE). This consultation sought views on a number of policy reforms. Along with this our Circular Economy Route Map the Scottish Government has also committed to creating a Product Stewardship Strategy, with the aim of minimising the health, safety, environmental and social impacts of products and packaging. Recognising the significant e-waste impact of single-use vapes, The Scottish Government is also introducing regulations to ban these products, incentivising more resource-efficient design and ensuring any vapes on the market are both rechargeable and refillable.
Effective product stewardship policies can help to meet our objective of having a circular economy. They reduce waste by decreasing the materials needed for production, and by increasing product lifespan. They increase recycling by providing incentives to collect, re-use and recycling products and their component parts. They help keep products and materials within the circular economy and reduce waste to landfill.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support the development of infrastructure to enable the re-use, repair and re-manufacturing of e-waste products according to the waste hierarchy.
Answer
We will focus on policies and activities that have the greatest environmental and economic impact while continuing to encourage best practice by all businesses and consumers, with the aim to produce, consume and manage resources as effectively as possible. The Product Stewardship Strategy will set out a clear, cohesive approach to tackling the environmental and social impacts of products placed on the Scottish market, making the most of opportunities within the competence of the Scottish Government to reduce the environmental impacts of products and goods, and being clear where this requires further action from the UK Government.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the scale of e-waste in Scotland, and what steps it is taking to tackle e-waste.
Answer
Between 28 December 2023 and 7 March 2024, the Scottish Government, along with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments, held a consultation on reforming the producer responsibility system for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). This consultation sought views on a number of policy reforms, including the introduction of a producer financed household collection system for small and large items of WEEE, enhancing retailer obligations to provide a free collection on delivery service for large appliances, extending obligations to online marketplaces, creating a category for vapes to ensure that treatment and collection costs are borne by vapes producers, and establishing a new WEEE scheme administrator.
While we do not have Scotland-specific data on the scale of e-waste, it was calculated as part of our impact assessments that an estimated 155kt of WEEE is disposed of in household residual waste collections in the UK annually, which is then sent to landfill and energy from waste. This is equivalent to 5.3kg per household per year.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is, regarding any implications for Scotland, to the e-waste action plan that was recently published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Answer
While not in direct response to the report, between 28 December 2023 and 7 March 2024, the Scottish Government, along with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments, held a consultation on reforming the producer responsibility system for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). This consultation sought views on a number of policy reforms, including the introduction of a producer financed household collection system for small and large items of WEEE, enhancing retailer obligations to provide a free collection on delivery service for large appliances, extending obligations to online marketplaces, creating a category for vapes to ensure that treatment and collection costs are borne by vapes producers, and establishing a new WEEE scheme administrator.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to take steps to improve recycling infrastructure and technologies to enable the increased recovery of critical minerals and other materials.
Answer
While the Scottish Government recognises the need to ensure that we have effective infrastructure and technologies to enable the increased recovery of critical minerals, we acknowledge the complexities of critical mineral markets. Data is often not readily available, markets can be volatile, and supply chains are fraught with environmental, social and governance issues.
Better data availability is in all our interests to support well-functioning markets and responsible, traceable supply chains, to help de-risk investments and development of new projects. We are working with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments and regulators to implement a UK-wide mandatory digital waste tracking service. The digital waste tracking service will improve the quality of waste data and make it easier to identify opportunities to keep materials in use for as long as possible and ensure nothing is wasted.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its priorities are for improving intergovernmental relations with the UK Government.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2024
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it supports people in the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency to access and participate in cultural activities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2024
