Chamber and committees

The amendment is a result of local authorities asking the previous minister to have it in place. As I mentioned, their only recourse was to get the police involved and they wanted to be able to issue fixed-penalty notices. I do not have any information about a resourcing implication arising from that. It was local authorities that came to us and said that they wanted that power, so I am making the assumption that they have the resources in place to do that. They are obviously having things reported to them and they feel powerless.

Trading standards already enforce the powers, but the amendment gives local authorities the tools to do the same. If there were any resourcing implications, I imagine that local authorities would have brought that to my, or the previous minister’s, attention and they have not done so.

I was finished already.

Amendment 169 agreed to.

Amendment 170 not moved.

Section 17—Duty to make information publicly available

Amendments 171 to 173 not moved.

Section 17 agreed to.

After section 17

Zero Waste Scotland is Scotland’s circular economy expert. Over the next decade, it will play a pivotal role in accelerating and inspiring transformation in our economy and society, so that resources are valued to their maximum extent and market opportunities are opened up in Scotland as a result. Zero Waste Scotland will work with businesses, local authorities, public body partners and communities, on behalf of the Scottish ministers, in the development and delivery of key policies, such as those that are set out in the circular economy and waste route map and the circular economy strategy that is proposed in the bill.

Amendments 174 and 180 will ensure that relevant legislation that is applicable to Scotland’s other public bodies will now also apply to Zero Waste Scotland. That follows a decision made by the Office for National Statistics in April 2023 that Zero Waste Scotland be classified as a public sector organisation as it is largely funded and directed by the Scottish ministers. Work is well under way to transition the organisation to become an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government.

The amendments insert a new schedule into the bill to bring Zero Waste Scotland into various pieces of legislation that apply to public bodies and will bring its governance and accountability requirements into line with other public bodies. Those requirements have been agreed with the Zero Waste Scotland board and are consistent with duties placed on environmental and economic public body delivery partners that work alongside the organisation to deliver environment and economy outcomes of the national performance framework.

In particular, Zero Waste Scotland will be subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, its ministerial board member appointments will be regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland and its board members will be required to comply with a code of conduct. It will be required to maintain or improve women’s representation on its board and carry out impact assessments for island communities when exercising its functions. It will also be required to have a records management plan, to provide information on expenditure and the exercise of functions and to comply with statutory public procurement requirements.

It is our intention also to ensure that Zero Waste Scotland is subject to equalities duties, but those cannot be imposed via amendments in the bill and will be imposed separately under secondary legislation.

I will have to get my officials to give me that information. I am happy to write to you. I do not have information on any cost in particular. Zero Waste Scotland is keen for the transition to happen. I am looking at my officials. [Interruption.] I will write to you.

Yes.

Amendment 174 agreed to.

Yes, I will.

As I have already said, the appropriate amount would be determined in consultation with local authorities and there would be a certain degree of scrutiny of that through secondary legislation. It would not be for me to say at the moment what I think the level should be, because that would be determined in consultation. At the moment it is £80. Whether the amount should be higher can be addressed as a result of what we are putting into the bill.

I will leave the matter there, in the interests of time. I am sorry that I cannot support your amendments in this group, convener. I understand the reason behind them, but I believe that setting the minimum charge at £500 is disproportionate.

Amendment 169 responds to requests from local authorities for powers to issue fixed-penalty notices in relation to offences and regulations under section 140 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which ban the supply of environmentally harmful items. That was initially raised in the context of the single-use plastics ban, and it was raised by trading standards during the consultation on the draft regulations banning the sale and supply of single-use vapes.

At present, the only option for local authorities is to report any offences under those kinds of regulations for prosecution. Amendment 169 would add a new provision to the bill to provide a regulation-making power for ministers to enable local authorities to issue fixed-penalty notices to individuals or businesses for offences in those kinds of regulations. It would allow for more effective and proportionate enforcement of those offences and would give powers to local authorities that already exist in the rest of the United Kingdom.

I move amendment 169.

Mr Golden has been here so much that I have almost begun to think of him as part of the committee. That is probably what happened.

I move amendment 174.

I did not intend to chide Mr Simpson; I intended to answer him. If there was any material difference as a result of the amendment, I would have brought that to the committee. There is not and, therefore, I did not have the information in front of me. I hope that the committee is now satisfied that it has all the information that it needs to make a judgment on the amendment.