Local authorities are responsible for the provision of local waste services and are, therefore, best placed to comment on contractual arrangements for waste services.

However, based on information from local authorities, we understand that Highland and Scottish Borders Councils have shorter-term options, for example to 2030, to extend their current landfill ban compliant contracts

As part of our commitment for decarbonisation the Scottish Government, and associated Agencies, is working towards our commitment to phase out the need for all petrol or diesel cars in the public sector fleet by 2025 and for all other new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.

Presently, Scottish Government’s overall fleet is comprised of 66% ultra-low emitting vehicles (ULEV), of which 27% of the fleet is fully electric.

The Scottish Government only hold central records for its own and Crown Office Procurator Fiscals Service fleets. The Crown Office Procurator Fiscals Service fleet do not currently operate any zero emission or ultra-low emitting vehicles.

No information is held for any of the other related Agencies.

The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 places a responsibility on any person who has control of any premises to ensure that those occupying the premises are safe from harm caused by fire. The legislation places a duty on those responsible for fire safety within relevant premises to carry out a fire risk assessment.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is the authority responsible for enforcing this legislation. The Service may visit certain premises to ascertain whether the fire precautions are being maintained to a satisfactory standard and that the requirements of the legislation are being met.

As for SEPA's role, it ensures waste management operators operate their sites in a manner that does not pollute the environment or harm human health. In the event of a serious fire, SEPA typically works with the SFRS, the local authority and the public health authorities.

SEPA will continue to work with the SFRS to address fire risk in the waste industry, taking account of any lessons from the recent fire at the Suez Recycling and Recovery plant, and in particular, will continue to support the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum which is a partnership between the HSE, the waste industry, the fire and rescue services and the UK environmental regulators. The WISH forum has produced guidance on fire prevention for the industry and this can be found at the following link: https://www.wishforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/WASTE-28.pdf .

We publish a six-monthly update on the progress of infrastructure projects with a capital value of £5 million or more which are at the Outline Business Case (or equivalent) approved stage or beyond and the most recent update can be found via the following web link: IIP - Major Capital Projects Progress Update - March 2022 ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/infrastructure-investment-plan-2021-22-2025-26-major-capital-projects-progress-update-march-2022/documents/ )

The update mainly comprises those projects included within Annex D of our Infrastructure Investment Plan which was published in February 2021. The update provides details on the progress of projects as a whole and does not provide information on outturn against budgets or align directly to a single financial year.

Financial information on expenditure against budget by portfolio was provided to Parliament in the Provisional Outturn statement on 23 June 2022. A copy of this information has been replicated in the table below, while a more detailed breakdown providing further analysis is included in Annex A.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table indicates the number of incidents in each month where an individual was identified as being Unlawfully at Large in that month from January 2020 until July 2022:

The Scottish Carbon Metric measures the whole-life carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste, and is a vital tool in our work to address the climate emergency. The most recent data shows that in 2018 the carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste fell to the lowest on record, 30% below 2011 baseline levels.

Most recently, the metric has provided key evidence to inform the development of proposals set out in our Waste and Circular Economy Route Map consultation. The Carbon Metric, and the newly developed Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT), will continue to play a key role to help ensure that the Scottish waste and resources sector plays its full role in tackling the global climate emergency.

The Carbon Metric reports also contribute to the evidence base for Outcome 1 (Responsible Consumption) from Zero Waste Scotland's Corporate Plan, highlighting the environmental impact of over-consumption, and allowing their activities to be targeted for maximum impact. Additionally, insights from the most recent Carbon Metric report contributed to the evidence base for developing existing Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland activities, such as supporting the Circular Textiles Fund.

Over £23 million has been awarded to 15 local authorities, to date, through the Recycling Improvement Fund. This marks one of the biggest investments in recycling in a generation.

These initial investments have the potential to reduce CO2e emissions by 29,746 tonnes each year.

Carbon savings information for unsuccessful projects is not available, primarily due to insufficient evidence available to produce estimates.

Where a local authority has been unsuccessful in gaining funding, they receive feedback from Zero Waste Scotland. Zero Waste Scotland also offer support to explore funding opportunities and support the development of proposals.

Zero Waste Scotland will publish the next update of the Carbon Metric for waste in March 2023.

The publication of the Carbon Metric in March 2023 will be the last time the tool, in its current format, will be used.

From 2023 a report on the carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste from a whole-life carbon perspective will be produced using the newly developed Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT). The SWEFT tool performs the same functions as the carbon metric but has the additional benefit of measuring a wider range of indicators beyond carbon.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-08524 on 19 May 2022 and S6W-08585 on 7 June 2022. 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

Official Statistics on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions are based on a disaggregation of the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory. At the time of writing, the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory does not allow for the isolation of data for emissions from the incineration of fossil carbon hence statistics at this level are not available.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Statistics in relation to Psychoactive Substances (PS) detections are only available from 2018 onwards.

The following table provides the total number of detections for (PS) per year across all establishments from 2018 – present day.

*Includes detections for PS only and does not include other types of substances detected by the Rapiscan Itemiser machines.

**Prior to 2020, only 3 establishments had Rapiscan Itemiser machines in place. From 2020, this equipment was introduced to all establishments which accounts for the significant increase from previous years.