Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09714 on 29 July 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 .

The Regulations underpinning Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) do not mandate specific labelling requirements, but rather give producers and the scheme administrator the flexibility to decide on their preferred approach. We decided to take this approach following consultation with businesses during the development of the Regulations. You can read a summary of the consultation responses in paragraphs 160 – 162 of the Final Business and Regulator Impact Assessment (BRIA), published on 22 December 2021.

As independent Scheme Administrator established by businesses, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) has developed its own labelling requirements for those businesses who wish to have CSL administer their obligations relating to DRS.

The specific level of the producer fee is for Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL), as a private business independent of Government, to set through a commercial negotiation with the producers which it agrees to represent. As such the Scottish Government was not consulted as part of the development of the producer fee.

The Full Business Case Stage 1 Addendum for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 16 March 2020, models the economic impact of DRS based on a central estimate for the producer fee and concludes that there is a strong economic case for DRS.

The specific level of the producer fee is for Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL), as a private business independent of Government, to set through a commercial negotiation with the producers which it agrees to represent. The Scottish Government has not made an assessment of CSL’s proposed producer fees.

Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team requested advice from Marine Scotland Science ("MSS") and NatureScot on the reports provided by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited. MSS and NatureScot advised on the specifics of the noise monitoring carried out in respect of each clearance event with reference to National Physical Laboratory guidance; the mitigation implemented to reduce impacts to marine mammals and lessons learned that could be applied to future campaigns. Due to the small number of unexploded ordnance to be cleared, NatureScot advised that overall impacts from the clearance activity in terms of exposure to noise and behavioural disturbance were lower than predicted and well within the scope of the assessment submitted in support of the licence applications.

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 Scottish Government does not hold statistics on the number of people staying in community based bail accommodation. Officials are currently exploring what further data could be practically recorded beyond the current information collated annually on total bail orders by gender and age and bail supervision cases by Local Authority areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening alternatives to remand and this year, alongside introducing electronic monitoring for bail, increased investment by £3.2m. We are continuing to work with partners to explore improvements, including the potential to further develop community based bail accommodation in the future .

The next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands is scheduled to take place on Monday 3 October 2022.

When determining applications for marine and European Protected Species licences in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance, Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team (“MS-LOT”) includes conditions on the licences to control the methods, as well as conditions which require the licensee to provide reports with specific detail on the methods used. When the reports are submitted, MS-LOT then reviews the reports against the conditions to understand whether the activity has been conducted in accordance with the licences.

On receipt of the reports submitted by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited as requirements of its marine and European Protected Species licences in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance, Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team (“MS-LOT”) sought advice on the reports from NatureScot, the statutory nature conservation body, and Marine Scotland Science which provides internal scientific advice to MS-LOT. No concerns were raised as regards the craters identified within the reports.