Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-15919

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of businesses with existing contracts to collect glass from commercial premises that may lose business as a result of the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme.

During the development of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), a number of documents were produced, including the Full Business Case and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which look at the expected impacts to business and others of this scheme.

Scotland’s DRS represents a significant, transformative, change in the way in which waste is handled across the country. These changes present opportunities for waste handling businesses to work with Circularity Scotland and their primary logistics contractor Biffa, to help support the scheme.

Any companies which wish to participate in Scotland’s DRS activities should contact the DRS enquiries team at Biffa and this will be discussed with Circularity Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15918

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in total have registered with the Deposit Return Scheme to date, and how this compares with the number of businesses that were expected to register.

More than 670 businesses have registered so far, representing 95% of products sold in Scotland.

The number of companies in the drinks industry inevitably changes over time and, at the outset of developing a deposit return scheme, approximately 4,500 companies were estimated to have an interest in the scheme.

However, significantly less would have to register – for example, once groups of companies registering under one registration are identified, the number of individual producers/importers is likely to be below 2,000.

Question reference: S6W-15921

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in working with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to agree an increased noise budget for projects within the 50km safeguarding zone at Eskdalemuir, and when it expects that any announcement will be made on the agreed way forward.

Safeguarding the Eskdalemuir Seismic Array is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and any decision to amend the seismic noise budget for the array is a decision for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government and Ministry of Defence have been working constructively together and the Scottish Government has conducted a series of technical studies over the course of 2020 to 2022 in order to provide updated wind turbine data that can be used in the noise budget allocation calculation.

The results of these studies are publicly available and are hosted on the Scottish Renewables’ website. The Scottish Government shared these studies with the MoD and we understand the MoD is in the process of reviewing their noise budget management. The Scottish Government continues to engage with the MoD as they develop their approach.

Question reference: S6W-14969

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Electric Vehicle Loan scheme.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to address the climate emergency, to administer the Low Carbon Transport Loan each year since 2011. The administrative costs including staffing costs in each year are set out in the following table alongside the value of funds that EST distributed, and the associated deliverables.

The administration and staffing costs cover loans for new and used vehicles to individuals and to businesses. Separate administration and staffing costs for different types of loans are not available.

Financial years	Administration cost	Funding delivered through EST	Output
2011 – 2023	£2,415,312.00	£187,808,619.00	Promotion and management if a set of interest free loans supporting the update of electric cars and vans, currently totalling 7033 loans to individuals and businesses.

Question reference: S6W-14967

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Plugged-in Communities Grant Fund.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to address the climate emergency, to administer the Plugged-in Communities Grant Fund each year since 2020. The administrative costs, which include staffing costs in each year, are set out below alongside the value of funds that EST distributed and the associated deliverables.

Financial year	Administration cost	Funding delivered through EST	Output
2018 - 2023	£845,685.00	£3,311,415.48	Administration, promotion and monitoring of zero emission car club and community transport schemes providing services to residents and local communities.

Question reference: S6W-14964

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Used Electric Vehicle Loan scheme.

Question reference: S6W-14955

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme.

The Scottish Government is providing £50,000 in grant funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to address the climate emergency, to administer the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme in the 2022-23 financial year. The administrative costs, inclusive of EST staffing, are set out in the following table alongside the value of funds that EST are distributing and the outputs achieved.

Financial year

Administration cost

Funding being delivered through EST

Output

2022-23

£50,000

£359,729

(£500,000 was made available)

Twelve grants have been offered to support small to medium sized bus and coach operators obtain advice on transitioning their fleets to zero-emissions.

Six grants have been offered to companies to develop propositions to offer multiple operators a simple route to shift to zero-emission buses.

One grant has been offered to support a commercial demonstration of repowering and research into the role repowering can play in the transition.

Question reference: S6T-01276

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is appropriate for the chief executive of Circularity Scotland to be paid a reported annual salary of £300,000.

Question reference: S6W-14963

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Low Emission Zone Support Fund for eligible households.

The Scottish Government is providing £11.6 million in grant funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to administer the Scottish LEZ Support Fund.

The LEZ Support Fund for households is a part of this LEZ Support Fund, and does not have separate admin costs. The following table therefore represents the whole LEZ Support Fund, this similarly applies to PQ S6W-14972 and PQ S6W-14965.

The administrative costs (which include EST staffing costs) are set out below alongside the value of funds that EST are distributing and the outputs achieved.

Financial year	Administration cost	Funding being delivered through EST	Output
2020-21	£381,000	£1,759,738	LEZ Support Fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.
2021-22	£334,277	£3,706,925	LEZ Support Fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.
2022-23 (year to date)	£471,892	£4,695,326	LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.

Question reference: S6W-14972

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Low Emission Zone Retrofit Fund.

The Scottish Government is providing £11.6 million in grant funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to administer the Scottish LEZ Support fund.

The LEZ Support Fund for households is a part of this LEZ Support Fund, and does not have separate admin costs. The following table therefore represents the whole LEZ Support Fund, this similarly applies to PQ S6W-14965 and PQ S6W-14963.

The administrative costs (which include EST staffing costs) are set out below alongside the value of funds that EST are distributing and the outputs achieved.

Financial year	Administration cost	Funding being delivered through EST	Output
2020-21	£381,000	£1,759,738	LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.
2021-22	£334,277	£3,706,925	LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.
2022-23 (year to date)	£471,892	£4,695,326	LEZ Support fund provides grants to households and businesses based near LEZs to dispose of non-LEZ compliant vehicles, and to adopt alternative modes of transport. This fund also provides grants to support businesses such as taxi operators to retrofit their existing vehicles to Euro 6 standard.

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