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-07125

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the basis is for the assumption that 3,021 reverse vending machines (RVM) will be required for the Deposit Return Scheme, as shown in Table 2 of the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 and the Final BRIA of 2021, and how many RVMs Circularity Scotland estimates will be required.

Question reference: S6W-07123

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 and the Final BRIA of 2021 of the Deposit Return Scheme and section 4.1 on calculating the costs and benefits of recycling, whether it will provide the detailed calculations for the “associated costs and benefits”, setting out (a) the individual figures and computations of the costs per tonne calculated for “collecting, sorting and disposing of the recycled materials” and (b) the benefits per tonne of “material revenue, carbon savings, residual collection, landfill savings and litter reduction benefits”, and for what reason the loss of landfill tax resulting from less material going to landfill has been excluded from the calculation.

The model used to inform that BRIA deals with local authorities as a collective group and it is therefore not possible to provide detailed calculations for individual local authority costs and benefits in relation to recycling. You can view the full report here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

Landfill tax is considered a ‘transfer payment’ under HM Treasury guidance and is therefore not included in BRIA calculations.

Question reference: S6W-07111

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity at the meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 25 January 2022 that it will "begin to build counting and sorting centres in August 2022", how many of each of these two types of centres will be built; where each will be built; at what costs, and how many employees will be employed at each of them.

Question reference: S6W-07124

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the estimated cost of fraud of the Deposit Return Scheme reduced from £108 million in the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 to £74.3 million in the Final BRIA of 2021.

Question reference: S6W-07121

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme and the estimates it made of the costs of loss of revenue to retailers caused by the loss of space necessary to accommodate a reverse vending machine (RVM), whether it will state (a) what specific evidence it obtained from Envipco whom it cites as the basis for the figure used of around 0.5 square metres, (b) what discussions it had with representatives of small retailers in connection with the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 (paragraph 174) and the Final BRIA of 2021 (paragraph 209), (c) what its response is to reports that many small retailers believe that the space required for the smallest RVM that would permit its location in a shop and its use for its intended purpose, including extraction of recyclate, is 3 square metres of floor space, which is around six times more than what was estimated and (d) what it estimates will be the total annual cost of loss of revenue for retailers that is attributable to the loss of floor space required for RVMs based on the area of (i) 0.5 and (ii) 3 square metres.

The most up to date information available regarding the impact of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme on retailers, including information about the use of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) can be found in the amended Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), which was published on 22 December 2021 and can be downloaded from the Scottish Government’s website here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

Question reference: S6W-07109

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current remuneration is, including any pension or other entitlements, for (a) the (i) chair, (ii) chief executive officer and (iii) chief financial officer and (b) each of the independent directors of Circularity Scotland; whether this will remain the same in each of the next two years; who determines their remuneration, and whether it is subject to ministerial approval.

Question reference: S6W-07255

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people aged (a) 25 to 50 and (b) 51 to 75 have been convicted of dangerous driving in each of the last five years; how many have had their licence removed, and what the average period of disqualification was.

The available information is provided in the following tables.

People aged 25-50 and 51-75, convicted for Dangerous and careless driving offences (where main crime), 2015-16 to 2019-20.

	2015-16		2016-17		2017-18		2018-19		2019-20
	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75
Dangerous driving offences	349	62	389	73	521	76	458	70	545	90
Driving carelessly	1,500	575	1,557	599	1,518	593	1,235	494	1,283	539

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

People convicted for Dangerous and careless driving offences (where main crime) receiving driving disqualification, 2015-16 to 2019-20.

	2015-16		2016-17		2017-18		2018-19		2019-20
	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75
Dangerous driving offences	335	57	368	67	496	68	432	63	521	85
Driving carelessly	228	37	259	35	256	50	177	42	181	27

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Average period of driving disqualification (in months), received by people aged 25-50 and 51-75, convicted for Dangerous and careless driving offences (where main crime), 2015-16 to 2019-20.

	2015-16		2016-17		2017-18		2018-19		2019-20
	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75	25-50	51-75
Dangerous driving offences	27	17	25	20	26	19	26	18	25	18
Driving carelessly	11	12	12	12	12	10	10	14	10	10
Average total	19	15	18	17	20	14	20	16	20	16

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Please note: Averages exclude lifetime driving bans.

Question reference: S6W-07265

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the definition of domestic abuse in England and Wales in relation to how it differs from the definition in Scotland and how this could be reviewed and changed.

Since the late 1990s, an agreed definition of domestic abuse has been used to collate information on domestic abuse incidents within Scotland. This definition was progressed by the then Scottish Office and agreed through consultation with key justice agencies and stakeholders. It is as follows:

‘Domestic abuse is any form of physical, non-physical, or sexual abuse which takes place within the context of a close relationship, committed either in the home or elsewhere. This relationship will be between partners (married, co-habiting or otherwise) or ex-partners.’

The Scottish Government has considered the statutory definition of domestic abuse contained at Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 which relates to England and Wales. The principal practical difference between the definition contained in that Act and the Scottish definition above is that domestic abuse does not extend in Scotland so as to include abuse between certain relatives who are not partners or ex-partners.

The Scottish Government recognises that abuse can be committed by people who are not a person's partner or ex-partner, including by other family members. However, in line with the views of the majority of stakeholders who responded to Scottish Government consultations that led to the development of recent legislation concerning domestic abuse, the Scottish Government considers that it is appropriate that this legislation applies specifically to partners and ex-partners. This is because abuse committed by a person's partner or ex-partner typically has a dynamic that differs from violence or abuse more generally, including where this abuse occurs within a family between, for example, siblings or parents and their adult children. There is a range of existing legislation that can be used to address familial abuse.

While the Scottish Government keeps the law under continual review to ensure that it is effective, there are no current plans to amend the definition of domestic abuse in Scotland to cover abuse perpetrated by family members who are not partners or ex-partners.

Question reference: S6W-07242

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide additional funding for schools that take refugee children from Ukraine.

Scotland has a proud history of welcoming displaced people and people seeking asylum. The Scottish Government and Scotland’s local authorities stand ready to welcome and support people with the safety and security they need to rebuild their lives.

The Government is actively working with a wide range of partners, including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, councils and the Scottish Refugee Council, to ensure effective coordination of plans to address the practical challenges of resettling those coming to Scotland.

The UK Government have committed to providing £10,500 in additional funding to local authorities for each resettled Ukrainian to support access to services. We understand that an additional sum will be provided for children of school age, and we are seeking further clarity from UK Government on the specifics of this.

Question reference: S6W-07200

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage cumulative economic growth in Scotland, in terms of increased total GDP, was for the period from May 2007 to December 2021, and how this compares with the equivalent figure for the UK as a whole.