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As the Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT) is developed it will be used as appropriate to support policy making, helping to ensure that we have a sustainable international material footprint, and supporting the Scottish waste and resources sector to play its full role in tackling the global climate emergency.

SWEFT is currently in development by Zero Waste Scotland. Research is focused on identifying accurate and representative data that is needed to estimate the environmental impacts and how best to communicate results to stakeholders according to international best practice. Information on progress to date can be found here: To carbon targets, and beyond! | Zero Waste Scotland .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08833 on 14 June 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

There have been four Gateway Reviews of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. Regular Gateway Reviews are a standard part of the Scottish Government’s project management framework, there is no requirement to notify the Scottish Parliament in advance when a Gateway Review is commissioned.

A table showing spend by Scottish Government directorates within hospitality codes in the Scottish Government ledger in the financial years 2020-2021 and 2021-22 is as follows.

Identifying the number of individuals monitored electronically in each year is not possible from the data held without significant further analysis to remove from the data, those individuals who may have received multiple orders and licences over the period.

However the number of installations onto electronic monitoring made each year (with the caveats below) is a reasonable proxy for monitored individuals.

Financial Year Apr-Mar

2016-17 3813

2017-18 4457

2018-19 4140

2019-20 4030

2020-21 2831

2021-22 3620

An installation is the action to fit a monitoring tag, irrespective of the licence or order monitored. While most electronically monitored individuals will be installed on an order or licence only once in a year, the same individual may have more than one installation in the course of a year, for example, if they have a subsequent new order or licence in that time period.

The impact of COVID-19 has been felt across all services within the justice system including within courts and prisons. During the financial year 2019-20 the number of installations of those electronically monitored (court orders and licences) was 4030, however the number then significantly dropped during the periods of COVID-19 disruption.

The numbers of those currently monitored are continuing to rise and we are now once again approaching some of the highest levels of monitoring we have seen.

The second part of the question asks for a breakdown by local authority area. This information is not currently held (although breakdown by issuing court area for example is possible). However a recent systems change from June 2022 means this breakdown by local authority area will be possible in future years.

In 2016 there were 39 air quality management areas designated in Scotland, since then five air quality management areas have been revoked due to improvements in air quality (1 in 2016, 1 in 2020, 2 in 2021 and 1 in 2022).

Revocation procedures for a further two air quality management areas have commenced, and a further 12 are eligible for revocation due to improvements in air quality.

On 19 July 2022, Circularity Scotland Ltd announced that it has signed a contract with Biffa to become Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme’s logistics service provider.

The award of this contract is a key milestone in the roll out of the scheme and the agreement is expected to create around 500 jobs in Scotland. It comes after several months of close collaboration between Circularity Scotland and Biffa as they progress towards DRS going live in August next year.

Work is also underway to deliver the IT infrastructure for the scheme, and I expect the contract for IT services to be finalised very shortly.

The Government produces quarterly statistics, available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which show how many parliamentary questions were cleared after the substantive date and those still outstanding at the time of audit.

On 30 May 2022 we published our consultation on Delivering Scotland’s circular economy – a Route Map to 2025 and beyond. The Route Map sets out system-wide interventions to help deliver Scotland’s transition to a zero waste and circular economy, significantly increase reuse and recycling rates, and modernise and improve waste and recycling services. The consultation is available here: Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: A Route Map to 2025 and beyond - Scottish Government - Citizen Space .

The accompanying technical annex summarises available evidence on factors driving the current national recycling performance, and the rationale for proposed Route Map actions. Key factors include infrastructure modernisation, specific geographical challenges contributing to local performance rate variation, technical or economic options for reuse or recycling of products, and the incentives and guidance in place to support recycling participation across our economy and society.