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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-14662

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage the sale of clothes free from fossil fuel-derived fibres, and what information it has regarding the quantity of such clothing that has been sold in each of the last five years.

Retail has an essential role to play if we are to deliver on our ambitious targets to reach net zero by 2045, which is why the Retail Strategy’s Delivery Plan contains a commitment to develop a Just Transition Plan for retail that includes an action to promote the steps that retailers and their supply chain operatives can take to reduce carbon consumption and environmental impacts.

The specific information requested on the quantity of such clothing that has been sold in each of the last five years is not held by the Scottish Government .

Question reference: S6W-14358

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 8 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether materials captured through the proposed Deposit Return Scheme will be retained for use in Scotland once having been recycled, and, if this is not the case, how such recycled material will be used.

The Deposit Return Scheme is an industry-led scheme, delivered by industry, led by the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd. Decisions use of materials retained following recycling will be for Circularity Scotland Ltd and industry to take forward.

The Scottish Government is, however, keen to see investment in Scotland and we are therefore making one of the biggest investments in a generation to modernise recycling and support the circular economy. We have launched the £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund which will deliver modernised services for residents, and a step change in Scotland’s recycling performance at both national and local levels.

So far over £44m has now been awarded to 17 local authorities to increase the quantity and quality of recycling across Scotland and this investment has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by over 39,000 tonnes each year – the equivalent of taking over 21,000 cars off the road.

Question reference: S6W-14359

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what capacity to construct reverse vending machines it has identified in Scotland.

The Deposit Return Scheme is an industry-led scheme, delivered by industry, led by the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd. The Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations were laid in 2020 and businesses have now had three years to prepare for the launch of the scheme.

There are many companies providing these services in Scotland, and an assessment is not considered to be necessary or appropriate for Government to carry out.

Question reference: S6W-14324

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13582 by Lorna Slater on 18 January 2023, whether it will provide details of any preceding assessment of material switching.

Question reference: S6O-01846

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being considered to tackle crime involving pets.

Question reference: S6W-13770

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the conclusions of Circle Economy's The Circularity Gap Report Scotland, that only 1.3% of the resources Scotland uses are cycled back into the economy, the lowest circularity score of any nation yet assessed.

Question reference: S6W-13771

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Zero Waste Scotland has published two different material footprint estimates for Scotland in the Scottish Material Flow Accounts and the The Circularity Gap Report Scotland, which estimate Scotland’s material footprint to be 19.3 tonnes per capita and 21.7 tonnes per capita respectively, and which figure it considers to be more accurate.

Zero Waste Scotland commissions updates to the Scottish Material Flow Accounts to allow for a consistent time-series analysis from the data; these updates provide consolidated data for a variety of stakeholders such as academic and third-sector organisations.

To supplement this research, Zero Waste Scotland also commissioned the Circularity Gap Report (CGR) which was developed by Circle Economy. The methodology used in the CGR allows more detailed inferences to be drawn on the structure of material flows within the Scottish economy. Additionally, as the methodology used in the CGR is consistently applied across multiple countries, it allows the opportunity to compare Scotland’s performance to other nations.

It is Zero Waste Scotland’s view that one estimate cannot be considered more accurate than the other.

Question reference: S6W-13772

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on the Scottish Material Flow Accounts and The Circularity Gap Report Scotland from its funding through Zero Waste Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-13781

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which sources are informing its evaluation of minimum unit pricing in Scotland.

We are currently in the process of evaluating minimum unit pricing (MUP) as a whole over its first five years of operation. Public Health Scotland will be producing a final report on MUP in 2023, which includes assessing the impact of MUP on health, crime, public safety and public nuisance in Scotland, and the impact on the alcohol industry. This will inform our evaluation report which will be laid in Parliament and published in 2023. In addition we will engage with a range of interested parties as set out in Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012.

Question reference: S6W-13783

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects Public Health Scotland to publish its final report on minimum unit pricing.