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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-17189

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 2 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the recycling rate of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Question reference: S6W-17187

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce carbon emissions from clinical waste in the NHS.

I refer the member to the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 which sets out the Scottish Government’s plans to help reduce carbon emissions from clinical waste in NHS Scotland. This publication is available at: NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy: 2022-2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Specifically, the strategy sets out that each Health Board should set appropriate targets for reducing the volume of clinical waste it produces through measures including; greater use of reusable items, improvements to waste segregation and increased recycling of recyclable materials. The Scottish Government will review the need for a national target for clinical waste reduction.

Question reference: S6W-16932

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 2 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to inform individuals and businesses how to identify textiles fit for reuse, before recycling.

Zero Waste Scotland seeks to raise awareness of the benefits of responsible consumption by promoting the benefits of reuse. This is regularly done through communications campaigns promoting the Revolve programme, actions such as Pass It On Week and European Week for Waste Reduction, and encouraging individuals to reuse items and choose second-hand. Its recent carbon metric publication highlighted the impact of textiles waste.

Zero Waste Scotland is working to support businesses in understanding the benefits of circular business models which support the waste hierarchy, including hosting an upcoming textiles specific webinar.

Question reference: S6W-17181

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 2 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Peterborough's model for becoming a circular city by 2050 and its potential application to local authority areas in Scotland.

While we have not made any direct assessment of the Peterborough model, Zero Waste Scotland has engaged with Peterborough City Council in the past and has since explored a number of regional strategies and approaches to help inform their work to support cities and regions to adopt circular economy principles.

Zero Waste Scotland recently developed a framework for local authorities. The framework has been produced to help local authorities embed circular economy into their own operations, their wider cities, districts and regions and to deliver circular opportunities and benefits. It draws together experience, knowledge and learning from Scotland as well as other organisations and locations.

Question reference: S6W-17183

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 2 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will put in place to encourage consumers to dispose of nitrous oxide canisters responsibly.

A range of information and advice is available from Zero Waste Scotland and local authorities to help consumers recycle and dispose of waste responsibly, including gas canisters. Householders can seek specific advice from their local authority on recycling and disposal options in their local area.

Nitrous oxide canisters should not be disposed of in residual waste (‘black bag’) bins as they may explode if they are crushed, increasing the risk of injury or fire. Consumers of nitrous oxide canisters should follow advice provided by suppliers or contact their local authority to check that these items are accepted at their nearest Household Recycling Centre, where gas canisters can be safely stored and disposed of by a specialist waste contractor that has the facility to recycle them safely.

We will continue to work closely with the waste sector to consider any further advice required to support safe disposal of nitrous oxide canisters.

Question reference: S6O-02188

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is improving data gathering in relation to health outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-16242

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the 2019 Full Business Case for the Deposit Return Scheme needs to be updated in light of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, recent inflationary pressures and increased energy prices, and, if it considers that it does need updating, when that update will be carried out.

Question reference: S6W-16905

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what funding it has provided to (a) businesses within the reuse and remanufacturing sector and (b) any other businesses or organisations, for specific projects to improve their own circularity, in order to improve circularity within Scotland, in each of the last five years.

The Low Carbon Manufacturing Challenge Fund (LCMCF) is a new Fund operated by Scottish Enterprise providing capital investment of £26m over five years.

At 17 April, £150,000 has been provided to one project supporting a business which helps to improve its own circularity via the re-use of energy.

We also support Zero Waste Scotland who provide a range of support and advice for businesses looking to develop circular business ideas.

Details of the funding provided by Zero Waste Scotland are as follows.

	£m 2018-19	£m 2019-20	£m 2020-21	£m 2021-22	£m 2022-23	£m Total
Circular Economy Investment Fund	2.34	2.21	1.5	3.25	2.14	11.44
Circular Economy Business Support	1.57	2.34	0.9	1.11	0.45	6.37
Green Islands	0	0	0.23	0.02	0	0.25
Revolve	0	0	0.08	0.01	0.07	0.16
Construction Advice and Support Service	0	0.08	0.08	0	0	0.16
Annual Total	3.91	4.63	2.79	4.39	2.66	18.38

ZWS estimate that approximately £2.16 million of the Circular Economy Investment Fund support detailed in the table relates to re-use and re-manufacturing.

The Circular Economy Business Support programme provided SMEs with tailored, expert, one-to-one consultancy support.

Green Islands funding supported the provision of dispensing and other equipment that enabled customers to obtain grocery products in reusable containers

The Revolve programme provided direct funding to support reuse organisations

The Construction Advice and Support Service supported Scottish construction businesses to become more sustainable and circular in their day to day working.

Question reference: S6W-16907

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact of any stretched local authority budgets on the ability to deliver waste collection and recycling services.

The Scottish Government has not carried out analysis on any association between local authority budgets and delivering waste collection and recycling services.

The Scottish Government has provided an additional £793 million to local government in 2023-24, which is a real terms increase of £376 million or 3 per cent. However, it is for locally elected representatives to manage the allocation of resources and the level of services that are delivered to their local communities, taking account of local needs and priorities.

Scottish Government continues to engage and support local authorities with waste and recycling operations. This includes our £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund, to support local authorities in improving recycling infrastructure and deliver modernised services.

Question reference: S6W-16204

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31530 by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 September 2020, whether it will provide an updated table of capacity figures to 2023, with projections to 2030.

The following table shows permitted incineration capacity figures held by SEPA to 2023.

The first report of the independent review of the role of incineration in Scotland’s waste hierarchy, made assumptions about capacity beyond 2023, although in doing so, noted that it is unlikely that all facilities in the pipeline (i.e. those not build and at various stages of planning and permitting) will be built. The first report from the independent review is available here: Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury (www.gov.scot)

Year	Total operational waste incineration operational capacity (million tonnes)	Operational biomass incineration capacity (million tonnes)	Operational municipal waste incineration capacity (million tonnes)	Permitted municipal waste incineration capacity (million tonnes)
2007	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2008	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2009	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2010	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.2
2011	1.1	0.9	0.2	0.5
2012	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.5
2013	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.5
2014	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.6
2015	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.5
2016	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.7
2017	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.7
2018	1.6	1.4	0.2	0.9
2019	2.4	1.4	1	1.3
2020	2.4	1.4	1	1.5
2021	2.5	1.4	1.1	2.1
2022	2.5	1.4	1.1	2.2
2023	2.9	1.4	1.5	2.2