Seòmar agus comataidhean

I know, but that would be “soon”, convener.

A route map was mentioned a few times earlier. Minister, I think that you said that it would be published “soon”. Can you provide a bit more clarity? Will it be published later this year or in the first quarter of next year? When do you expect it to be published?

Minister, you mentioned that SEPA can take action. Do we know how many actions it has taken in the past 12 months? You quoted fines of up to £40,000. How many people have, for example, been taken to court in the past 12 months?

So, to find out, the committee would have to write to every local authority to get that data.

However, we have heard that some local authorities have already stopped taking such items, so that could lead to a big problem with fly-tipping down the line.

So, you expect some dispensations for some of our island communities, which may not have to reach a higher figure. Orkney Council said that it would prefer to be judged on the percentage of its waste that is going to landfill, which it thinks is quite low.

We have heard concerns about potentially criminalising households, with new fines for not recycling correctly and with criminal proceedings in situations in which, for example, a man with a van whom they have hired to get rid of a bulky item has fly-tipped that item. Should households fear that they may be criminalised because of aspects of the bill?

I was going to ask the same question that you asked, convener, about how many fixed-penalty notices have been issued in the past 12 months. Is the issue that we do not have that data to hand today, or do we just not have the data at all?

The information about POPs took the committee by surprise, so do you think that people are aware that they cannot take those sofas to recycling centres and that they need to make alternative arrangements to get rid of them?

I absolutely agree, but is there not a concern that big distributors, such as Amazon, which you mentioned, will just move their distribution south of the border to get round some of the legislation that you are going to put in place?