- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 26 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government which organisations the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition has met with regarding its consultation on a National Litter and Flytipping Strategy.
Answer
Responsibility for developing the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy sits within the remit of the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.
The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition has not met with any organisations regarding the consultation on a national Litter and Flytipping Strategy.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 26 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding is allocated to preventing fly tipping and littering for the financial year 2022-23.
Answer
The Scottish Government is taking forward a range of measures that contribute to tackling litter and flytipping as part of our wider efforts to tackle Scotland’s throwaway culture. In 2022-23 this included ongoing investment in local authority recycling infrastructure and banning some of the most problematic single-use plastic products.
Within this wider context, the Scottish Government allocated approximately £265,000 to prevent fly tipping and littering for the financial year 2022-23. This includes:
| | £k |
National Litter and Fly tipping Strategy consultation analysis and publication | 51 |
On-going litter and flytipping prevention work, funded via Zero Waste Scotland core grant | 131 |
Staff costs | 83 |
TOTAL | 265 |
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 26 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) has met and (b) plans to meet with Police Scotland regarding its consultation on a National Litter and Flytipping Strategy.
Answer
During the consultation process for the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, the Scottish Government convened the inaugural meeting of the Flytipping Forum, of which Police Scotland is a member and the purpose of which is to support co-ordinated action to tackle flytipping.
The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy has been co-designed in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Furthermore, during the development of the Strategy, the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, chaired by Police Scotland, has been regularly engaged on the strategy’s progress and provided the opportunity to feedback on consultation proposals.
The Strategy will soon be published, following on from which the Flytipping Forum will be convened to discuss the strategy’s content and priority actions.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any implications for its Deposit Return Scheme, when it and its agencies were informed of Circularity Scotland's financial position, including the company's reported need to send staff home.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2023
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the growing needs for dentistry and GP services in Lothian, in light of data showing that, for example, the population of East Lothian has increased by 21.5% compared to Scotland’s average of 8.2% between 2001 and 2021.
Answer
Health and Social Care Partnerships are responsible for planning for the health and social care needs of their residents.
Funding for general medical services is based on population level data about registered patients and practice shares are continuously adjusted to reflect the movement of patients.
Scottish Government continually reviews in conjunction with all Boards, including NHS Lothian, areas for inclusion within the Scottish Dental Access Initiative. This provides funding to dentists who wish to establish a new practice, or extend an existing practice in areas where access to dental services is challenging.
Scottish Government will continue to liaise with NHS Lothian and local Health and Social Care Partnerships to understand all their service-related infrastructure plans and priorities.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what projections it has made on recycling rates for (a) glass and (b) plastic following the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18462 on 15 June 2023. 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 .
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what baseline statistics it uses for recycling rates.
Answer
The Scottish Government use SEPA’s ‘Waste from All Sources’ data as a baseline for recycling rates in Scotland.
This includes statistical measures to support targets specified in Scottish waste policies. Those most relevant to recycling are:
- Recycled construction and demolition waste
- Recycled waste from all sources
The most recent Scottish ‘Waste from All Sources’ data is from 2021 and was published in March this year.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17872 by Lorna Slater on 25 May 2023, how much time, specifically, will be available for end-to-end testing.
Answer
I refer the member to my statement of 7 June 2023 which has been published on the Scottish Parliament website . The process for considering an exclusion for Scotland’s DRS from the Internal Market Act led to the unilateral UK Government decision on 26 May not to agree a full exclusion by removing glass and imposing uncertain conditions on interoperability. This decision left the Scottish Government with no other option than to delay launch until October 2025 at the earliest, according to UK Government aspirations for their scheme.
The end to end testing plans will have to be adjusted due to these developments. However prior to this announcement, as part of CSL Programme Delivery activity, end to end testing was planned to be carried out to ensure successful completion of agreed outcomes.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on who Circularity Scotland has met with during 2023.
Answer
As Circularity Scotland (CSL) is a private company, the Scottish government does not have a record of all their meetings and engagements. However, as an industry led company, CSL has regular engagement with its members and businesses involved with DRS. CSL has also attended many stakeholder meetings with the Scottish Government, including the system wide assurance group, sector engagement with retail, hospitality and producer bodies, and most recently on 7 June with the Minister, First Minister and more than 80 business representatives.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many countries with deposit return schemes that include glass in their scope the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has travelled to in order to research deposit return schemes, and whether it will provide a list of any such countries.
Answer
Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme has been based on successful schemes across Europe. The Minister has been thoroughly briefed by Zero Waste Scotland on relevant research findings throughout the policy’s development.
As stated in question S6W-18000 on 31 May 2023 research was undertaken by Zero Waste Scotland, who designed the scheme, and met with a range of international scheme administrators and operators, many of whom had schemes that include glass, such as Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Iceland, Denmark and Finland.
This research and briefing has meant that the minister has been fully appraised of the main characteristics of schemes across Europe and has not therefore personally travelled to the countries listed.
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
