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I cannot pre-empt what the review will say, but the reasons for having the exemption in the first place are to do with the islands impact assessment and the lifeline nature of the ferry services. I do not think that that will change, but the review will take place.

You would need to speak to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport about that, because I do not have that information. I do not want to get into something that is not in my particular portfolio. If you are talking about fishing vessels, Ms Gougeon will have information about incentivisation in that regard. However, I can certainly find that out from those portfolio areas.

I would need to look at the climate change plan. It is a draft plan at the moment. If we have the figures that are associated with this particular instrument and if they are not already in the climate change plan—I do not believe that they are—then we could, as we are finalising the plan, and if the figures are large enough to make a difference to the plan, put them into it.

Thank you, convener. I will just find my information about the errors so that I can include that, at your request.

About 9.5 million tonnes of waste are produced in Scotland each year, but there is currently no single or comprehensive system to track that waste. To achieve a more circular economy and to tackle waste crime, we must have current and accurate information about what waste has been produced and where it ends up. To do that, the Digital Waste Tracking (Scotland) Regulations 2026 will introduce the first phase of a new mandatory digital waste tracking system, which is being rolled out in all four nations.

The system will transform existing outdated paper-based systems for recording waste movements and will address the information gap that hinders the effective regulation and management of waste. That should make it easier for those in the industry who operate within the law and reduce opportunities for waste crime for those who do not. The system will ensure that resources are properly recycled or recovered and fed back into the economy.

The system has been in development for more than five years. There has been significant business input, including through a waste user panel, which included more than 450 operators in Scotland.

The system will support our alignment with developments in the EU, including by meeting the requirements for digital recording of hazardous waste and waste containing persistent organic pollutants.

The first phase of implementation, which will commence on a mandatory basis from 1 January 2027 in Scotland, will apply to facilities that are authorised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to carry out a waste activity. Equivalent phase 1 regulations are planned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and we will work closely with those Governments and the UK environmental regulators to support alignment and delivery across the four nations.

The errors that you mentioned are very minor. For example, definitions of “end of the quarter” and “quarter” are included in regulation 2, but those terms are not used in the draft regulations. There are some drafting errors, but they have no impact on the meaning of the instrument.

As part of the four-nations approach to the Scottish statutory instruments that the committee considered last week and is considering this week, we fed back that, after the negotiations and the drafting involving all four nations, an additional quality assurance step is needed. We did that as a result of the minor errors that have been brought to our attention.

Given that there will be a phase 2 associated with the new system, we aim to use that process to amend the drafting errors in this instrument, which have no material effect.

I hope that that clarifies the position. I thank the committee for its time and am happy to answer questions.

Sorry—I need clarification on that, convener. Are you asking whether it will reduce the amount of unsold goods that make their way in?

We will certainly get a more accurate picture of the types of waste that are going in. Unsold goods that have been put into any kind of receiver will be recorded, so we will certainly be able to see trends and whether there are issues with a particular waste stream. The actual recording will not in itself diminish the waste at source—it will just record what goes in. However, it will give us data to be able to assess what actions need to be taken.

It will be a very small number, but digitally excluded persons will be exempted from the use of the tracking system, for obvious reasons. SEPA will have a record of those people, and they will have to produce written records and submit information through a non-digital route to SEPA. It is not as if they are exempted from reporting; they are just exempted from having to use this particular system.

That goes back to the initial question that you asked about the analysis. Having a complete set of digital data will allow us to assess trends. Part of that will be about what we do in informing the public on how to reduce their waste. The system is a recording and data collection system for waste, but the lessons from it and the ability to analyse the information digitally will mean that it will inform future campaigns and, indeed, any future regulations or legislation that we want to introduce in this space.

A four-nations discussion needs to take place. As you rightly say, a 5,000-tonne threshold applies. The review in 2028 will consider whether the threshold should be lowered in the future, but that discussion will happen between the four nations and it will have to take into account the socioeconomic impacts of the inclusion of smaller ships. In the brief discussion that we have had, we have talked about the lifeline nature of the services and the fact that fishing vessels are important to the socioeconomic aspects of communities around Scotland. We will bring all that intelligence and those arguments to the fore in 2028 as well.

There are two aspects. First, there is the fuel that they use for travelling. There are different types of fuel, and fuel switching might be available. Secondly, there is the fuel that they use when they are berthed. It is going to be an interesting innovation for Scottish ports to be able to offer different options. When I was at Montrose port a couple of months ago, there was discussion about the fact that ships can get green electric power while they are berthed there, rather than using diesel. There could be good opportunities for ports to offer different types of fuel supply to vessels that are berthed.