Seòmar agus comataidhean

On the minister’s initial point about the scrutiny process, the proposals would have to come through an SSI, but do you accept that, at that stage, we would be able to say only yes or no to them and any chance to make amendments to improve those proposals would have passed?

I thank the minister for taking my intervention, which is on a key point. When you say “a supplier”, do you mean the supplier to the coffee shop, or do you mean the coffee shop that supplies the drink to the customer?

I thank the minister for accepting some of the amendments in Murdo Fraser’s name. I am happy that she accepted amendment 201. The intention behind that amendment is to increase the fines in order to stop people fly-tipping so that organisations such as SEPA do not have to get involved.

Amendment 202 involves a key point, but I am glad that the minister has said that she will work with Murdo Fraser to get it into a state that can be accepted at stage 3, so I will not move that amendment when the time comes to do so. However, as I said, the issue that it deals with is a key one. It cannot be right that innocent landowners who are doing absolutely nothing wrong are having to pick up the bill for someone else. That seems so unfair, and it probably would not happen anywhere else. I accept the comments that the minister has made on that.

I am glad that amendment 203 is also being accepted. We need a lot more data on fly-tipping so that we can see how big a problem it is. We all know that it is a problem, but we need the data behind it. I am happy that the minister is going to work on amendment 204 with Murdo Fraser to try and get it into a state where it can be—

Yes.

Amendment 201 agreed to.

I have quite a crisp question to ask Monica Lennon. A lot of her amendments in the group are about best practice. Can COSLA not pursue that, instead of having it set out in legislation?

On one of its visits, the committee heard about unauthorised waste carriers. Do you have any information on how big the problem is at present in Scotland? If you go on to Facebook marketplace, for example, you will see a lot of adverts saying, “Man with a van will pick up all your rubbish for £20 or £30”. Until I was part of this committee, I had no idea that carriers had to have a waste certificate, and I imagine that that is the case for most people. I am just trying to understand how big the problem is. Do we have any data on it?

Can I come back in, briefly?

You are right. There was a group of local authorities that broke away from COSLA, but it was my understanding that the Scottish Government only consulted with COSLA and did not consult with the other local authorities that were not part of COSLA.

I will just sum up briefly. I feel that local authorities will be impacted by everything that is in the bill, so it is only right that they have a proper seat at the table. I feel that they must be consulted. I do not think that the wording is strong enough. I imagine that, if I changed the word “COSLA” to “local authorities”, that would also have been knocked back by the minister. I am happy to press amendment 106.

Does the member share my frustration? As he mentioned, recycling has flatlined. We are making suggestions about how we improve recycling and, last week, suggestions were made about targets for recycling, but the Government is rejecting them all. Does he feel, as I do, that we will be in the exact same place in the next 10 years?