- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24274 by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 August 2019, what subsequent engagement it has had with online retailers regarding the cost pressures associated with collection of containers.
Answer
The Scottish Government has continued to engage with representatives from retailers who sell drinks online throughout both the development of the policy for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), and into the implementation phase that is presently underway. In addition, the Scottish Government and SEPA jointly held a workshop for retailers on 17 February 2022 to discuss takeback for containers sold online.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31522 by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 September 2020, what subsequent work has been carried out by SEPA and Circularity Scotland to ensure that carbon impact monitoring of the deposit return scheme is ready in time for launch, and whether it will provide an update on current progress with these efforts.
Answer
The environmental benefits of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will be realised by the increased collection and recycling of drinks containers that the scheme entails. As scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland will be required to report regularly against collection targets to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); these are set at 80% for 2024 and 90% for each subsequent year.
Significant programmes of work are underway within both Circularity Scotland and SEPA to prepare to deliver its obligations, and monitor its compliance with these obligations, respectively.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the consistency and reliability of data on delivery and funding of Frank’s Law across all local authorities.
Answer
Data on the number of people under the age of 65 receiving Free Personal Care and expenditure on personal care by local authorities is collected through the Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return . The data is quality assured and sent back to local authorities for additional validation prior to publication.
Information on the number of people aged 65+ receiving Free Personal Care has been collected since 2002; however, in 2019-20 the Quarterly Monitoring Return was extended to cover people aged 18 – 64 following the implementation of Frank’s Law. Information on the expenditure on personal care delivered at home was also requested and the frequency of collection was changed from annually to quarterly.
We will review this collection now that the expanded data has been collected for multiple years. This will involve working with local authorities to determine what is possible to collect; how to improve the consistency and quality of information; whether the resource burden of completing the collection is proportionate; whether alternative sources are available and would be more appropriate; and to assess ongoing data requirements.
The data for 2021-22 is currently out for collection and is due to be returned at the end of June. Therefore, the review work will take place later in 2022, following quality assurance of the 2021-22 data.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07724 by Mairi McAllan on 9 May 2022, how the additional funding that was authorised but not eventually required by SEPA has been used.
Answer
The SEPA budget position for 2020-21 was reported as part of the overall ENFOR Directorate budget monitoring return, which was reporting an underspend, providing flexibility to finance colleagues to offset any potential overspends.
Unutilised funding that is not required for purpose originally allocated is actively re-allocated across Scottish Government to mitigate emerging budget pressures. Where effective re-allocation is not possible due to late declaration of underspend, unutilised funding can be carried forward through the Scottish Reserve for utilisation in a future financial year.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 14 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown, by local authority area, of the area of green space currently being created and/or restored through projects funded by (a) the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme and (b) the Nature Restoration Fund.
Answer
a)We do not request that each applicant provides a breakdown of green space created and/or restored by the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme. However, 20 projects have received funding from the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme to date and the projects listed in the following table include green space creation as their primary focus.
Project | Local Authority | Project Site Area |
Dalmarnock Riverside Park | Clyde Gateway | 3.50 ha |
Levern Water Revival | East Renfrewshire Council | 1.00 ha |
Lionthorn bing greenspace | Falkirk Council | 3.60 ha |
Belle Gro'@ The Meat Market | Glasgow City Council | 0.30 ha |
Transforming Avenue End Road Greenspace | Glasgow City Council | 3.60 ha |
Hamiltonhill Green Infrastructure Project | Glasgow City Council | 0.90 ha |
Ruchazie Greening and Growing project | Glasgow City Council | 3.70 ha |
Carwood Street Food Growing Project | Inverclyde Council | 0.22 ha |
Glenmanor Greenspace | North Lanarkshire Council | 0.49 ha |
Clyde Cycle Park | South Lanarkshire Council | 8.25 ha |
ONECarluke Community Growing | South Lanarkshire Council | 0.60 ha |
Community Food Growing – Former Bonhill PS | West Dunbartonshire Council | 0.47 ha |
Further to this the projects listed in the following table include green space creation as a part of their delivery.
Project | Local Authority | Project Site Area |
Western Villages Granton | City of Edinburgh Council | 4.50 ha |
Greendykes North Affordable Housing | City of Edinburgh Council | 2.10 ha |
Applications are currently open for Round 3 of the fund (for 2023-24 funding) and we anticipate announcing the next round of successful projects by the end of 2022.
b) We do not hold the information requested. Local Authorities were allocated £5 million from the 2021-22 Nature Restoration Fund. They have been asked to submit returns by the end of May 2022 setting out how the money has been used. Analysis of these returns has not yet started.
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Current Status:
Withdrawn
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28705 by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 May 2020, what subsequent monitoring took place; what impacts on industry this identified, and what additional steps were considered necessary to proceed with the deposit return scheme.
Answer
This information can be found in the amended Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which was published on 15 December 2021. You can access this report here: A Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland: Final Business Regulatory Impact Assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 10 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01103 by Michael Matheson on 21 July 2021, what subsequent meetings have been held with small brewers regarding the deposit return scheme.
Answer
Since 21 July 2021 representatives of the small brewing sector have met the Scottish Government on a number of occasions to discuss Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS); most recently, representatives of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) discussed DRS with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy on 24 March 2022.
SIBA is also a member of the DRS System-Wide Assurance Group, which ensures that the views of small brewers continue to be heard as industry implements our DRS.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08230 by Lorna Slater on 11 May 2022, whether it will provide a further list of any reports commissioned that were never made, or have ceased to be made, publicly available by Zero Waste Scotland.
Answer
ZWS commissions research and policy reports for a variety of reasons. In some cases ZWS commissions reports which are intentionally aimed at wider public audiences, and in other cases, ZWS commissions reports to inform the development of programmes and interventions, or of Scottish Government policy.
In addition to the reports listed in my answer to S6W-08230, ZWS may have commissioned additional work that was not intended for publication. This includes commercially sensitive work that was undertaken specifically for individual organisations, work solely undertaken in-house by Zero Waste Scotland staff, and data generated to inform input to further published reports or to assist Zero Waste Scotland’s Strategic development.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 6 June 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08232 by Lorna Slater on 11 May 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of the use of the reusable nappy vouchers that shows how (a) many have been used, (b) much the scheme has cost and (c) many families have switched permanently to reusable nappies.
Answer
The following table details the number of reusable nappies provided each year through the Baby Box reusable nappy voucher scheme and the cost.
Families who take up the nappy offer are offered a discounted package should they wish to continue with reusable nappies. From June 2020 – April 2022, 224 families have used the discount and purchased further reusable nappies. The supplier started recording the data from June 2020 and we do not have a record of voucher redemptions before that period.
Year | Total Nappy Vouchers Redeemed | Cost |
2019 (starting from June) | 4,912 | £62,677.12 |
2020 | 7,192 | £91,769.92 |
2021 | 5,864 | £77,298.65 |
2022 (up to 30 th of April) | 1,290 | £18,229.72 |
