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Work relating to circular economy and textiles is delivered by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS). It is not possible to provide exact funding figures as textiles is a cross-cutting workstream and does not have a separate budget heading. However, the following textile related projects have been awarded funding through the Circular Economy Investment Fund administered by ZWS:

• In 2018 Cirkel was awarded £15,000 to support its online home linen subscription service that changes the current model of consumption from ownership to leasing.
• In 2020 LEAP was awarded £164,976for a project focusing on the recovery of haberdashery from waste textiles allowing supply of these high-quality recovered items and materials direct to the market.
• In 2020 Graceful Changes was awarded £19,900 for its ethical and organic baby and toddler clothing rental service.

ZWS has also supported 19 small and medium-sized enterprises with tailored consultancy support through the Circular Economy Business Support Service in order to help develop circular textiles propositions. These organisations span fashion, sportswear, furniture and homeware sectors. Each support service provided to these organisations had a value of approximately £15,000.

In addition, ZWS supported the creation of circular economy textiles initiatives including the UK’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan and Love Your Clothes campaign (through WRAP). Support included:

• ZWS developed and ran the textiles and apparel design fund which supported 5 textile design businesses (£5000 each) to adopt a circular economy concept in a new product or collection (2015-2016).
• ZWS worked with the Scottish Leather & Textiles Association to engage and equip the textile industry to develop circular / closed loop manufacturing approaches.
• ZWS delivered a series of masterclasses to develop skills relating to circular economy application in the textiles sector (e.g. design for disassembly, fibre processing, zero waste pattern design).

The position in relation to each part of the question is as follows:

‎ (a) Residual waste treatment analysis

Zero Waste Scotland’s 2017 work on residual waste treatment analysis did not ultimately result in a published report. However, Zero Waste Scotland’s ongoing support to local authorities has included discussions and investigation of residual waste treatment options. Subsequently, the Scottish Government commissioned the ‘Waste Markets Study’ in 2019; and Zero Waste Scotland recently produced a report, which is being revised following stakeholder feedback, on the carbon impacts of different residual treatment options.

The waste markets study is available at this link: Waste markets study: full report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and Zero Waste Scotland’s report, the climate change impact of burning municipal waste in Scotland, is available here: The climate change impact of burning municipal waste in Scotland | Zero Waste Scotland

(b) Quantifying liquid food waste from food and drink manufacture

This report has not been published because of challenges with anonymisation of confidential shared commercial data; however, it has informed ongoing consideration of food waste prevention issues. A key conclusion was that the current scope of the Scottish food waste prevention target for manufacturing (which excludes liquid disposal) is appropriate in focusing intervention efforts most effectively for the time being.

(c) Insight into consumer food waste behaviours

Two representative online surveys were carried out by Zero Waste Scotland from 12 February to 2 March 2020; one focused on consumption behaviours, the other on disposal behaviours and included ‘In-home food behaviours and food waste’ as a dedicated topic. The publication of this analysis has been delayed due to reprioritisation of work during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, results are informing ongoing intervention and communication development.

(d) Development of household sampling methodology for compositional analysis

The Waste Data Strategy Board has agreed a proposed methodology to undertake compositional analysis of household waste across Scotland. This will be made available on the Zero Waste Scotland website shortly.

(e) Reuse and repair sector stock control options

This report has not been placed on the Zero Waste Scotland website, but it has been shared with relevant stakeholders via Community Resources Network Scotland (CRNS), who were the primary audience. It has also informed programme support to third sector reuse organisations. A copy of the report can be obtained from Zero Waste Scotland.

(f) Reuse and repair shared logistics options

This report was initially placed in the public domain as supporting content for the Zero Waste Scotland grant scheme Funding to Support Re-use & Repair Hub Trials . The report has since been published through the Zero Waste Scotland website as a separate document.

The Winter Support Fund was announced on 30 November 2020. This included funding to extend the Connecting Scotland programme to 5,000 socially isolated older or disabled people.

Applications are made by organisations who apply on behalf of usually a number of individuals they identify as eligible. The Local Authority and SCVO then assess each request to check for eligibility. Approved awards are then distributed by SCVO to the applying organisations for onward distribution to individuals recipients.

A first round of applications for up to 2,000 iPads ran from 4 to 18 December, aiming for delivery during January. A second round with up to 3,000 iPads ran concurrently and closed on 18 January 2020.

Applications received by 18 December have been processed, and deliveries were made in January to 70 projects which will provide 883 iPads to individuals. Decisions on a number of larger applications were deferred to January to ensure a level playing field between smaller and larger organisations as the pre-Christmas Covid measures disproportionality affected smaller organisations ability to respond.

Organisations awarded during the second round have started the contracting stage and delivery of devices will begin in February once contracting has completed.

All 5,000 devices will be awarded across both application rounds.

The Scottish Budget 2021-22 delivers an unprecedented reduction in the Basic Property Rate (poundage) mid-revaluation to 49p, the lowest poundage in the UK. All properties with rateable values over £51,000, and £95,000, respectively are liable for a supplement on top of the poundage, delivering an Intermediate Property Rate (50.3p) and Higher Property Rate (51.6p).

The Scottish Budget 2021-22 also commits to extending the COVID-19 relief for properties in the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors for at least three months. Therefore, unlike in other parts of the UK, eligible Retail, Hospitality and Leisure properties in Scotland will pay no rates irrespective of rateable value until at least 30 June 2021.

Should the UK Government bring forward an extension to their equivalent Retail Hospitality Leisure (RHL) relief that generates consequential funding, Ministers will match the extension period as part of a tailored package of business support measures. I recently wrote to the Chancellor to urge the UK Government to deliver an extension to their scheme, and provide the certainty businesses need.

699 applications were received for Phase 2 Round 1. Of these applications 529 were successful, amounting to a total of 17,452 devices.

Delivery of devices awarded through Phase 2 of the programme began in December 2020. To date 10,685 devices have been delivered to successful organisations as part of Phase 2.

Since the Connecting Scotland programme launched in May 2020, 20,076 devices have been delivered.

In reply to question S5W-32433, on 26 October 2020 the Scottish Government stated it expected to publish its review of the effectiveness of the Guidance on Dog Training Aids, including an analysis of responses to its stakeholder survey, before the end of the year. Work on this review had to be paused due to the pressures of the Covid pandemic, EU exit and other animal welfare legislative commitments, so it is now expected to be published before the end of March.

The analysis and all the relevant information supplied by stakeholders will be passed to the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission to consider as part of their planned review of dog training later this year.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Brand Scotland recently launched a digital marketing campaign, targeting audiences in Europe, to communicate Scotland's continued commitment to Europe and to encourage European partners to help keep Scotland at the front of people’s minds as a place to live, work, study, visit and do business following EU Exit.

The campaign film, Scotland is Here launched on Scotland is Now social channels on 1 January and ran until 14 January, primarily targeting France, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Ireland and supporting content continues to be served over social channels.

As with all such campaigns, the core campaign was produced by Brand Scotland, and was followed up with complementary activity from Brand Scotland partner organisations who share content across wider networks and among stakeholders, with Scottish Enterprise inviting support from the GlobalScots network. The Scottish Government does not hold details of how many members of the network chose to share the content.

The campaign is yet to complete in full and an evaluation will be carried out however, by 20 January 2021 it had gained over 14.5 million views worldwide, reached over 52 million people in our target markets and increased our non UK social followership on Brand Scotland channels by 76%. One follower commented: ‘Thank you so much Scotland. You’ll always be in our hearts. We love your brave people and marvellous landscapes’. There were over 988 thousand engagements with many more comments of a similar sentiment.

The Digital Development Loan is demand led and allows individual businesses to determine where best to focus their investment. In the Phase 1 pilot, 21 businesses applied for a loan which resulted in digital skills training for 83 of their staff. In the current Phase 2 delivery the number of their employees who have improved their digital skills as a result of their employer’s decision will form part of the project’s appraisal.

The Digital Growth Fund is one of many policy initiatives aimed at supporting people and businesses to improve their digital capability. In addition to the free provision of further and higher education courses focussed on digital, we have also delivered programmes such as the Digital Start Fund, the National Training Transition Fund, DigitalBoost and the Youth Guarantee, all of which support the development of digital skills.

The process for the creation of creative content for Brand Scotland campaigns is undertaken within the Scottish Government Communications Division and then approved by all Brand Scotland partners and the relevant portfolio Ministers. Brand Scotland partners also undertake their own supporting communications and follow their own organisational processes for delivery and dissemination.