Chamber and committees

Thank you, convener, and good morning, everyone. I want to start by addressing some general points that have been made about the regulations that would be introduced under the bill.

Regulations made under section 9 will already be subject to the super-affirmative procedure, which was welcomed by the committee, and will therefore be subject to a high level of scrutiny before they are laid. The Government will make proposals for everything that it would apply a charge to through a Scottish statutory instrument, and those proposals would be subject to the parliamentary scrutiny that would come with that. Any Government would allow for that scrutiny.

I will make a start on this point and then let Mr Lumsden in.

The Scottish Government cannot support any of Graham Simpson’s amendments in this group, but I am, as ever, happy to speak to him about some of his concerns. I will lay out my reasons for not supporting the amendments, starting with amendments 24 to 26, which seek to exempt items from future regulations made under the proposed new power in the bill.

Amendment 24 seeks to prevent the use of the power to charge for single-use items if they fall within the scope of a deposit return scheme or “any ... re-use scheme”. Without a specific definition, it is not clear exactly what the term “re-use scheme” means here and, therefore, what the impact would be of exempting those schemes from future charges. The committee will be aware that, at the moment, the Scottish Government is in discussion with the United Kingdom Government and the Welsh and Northern Irish Governments about a future United Kingdom-wide DRS.

It would be great if I could actually get through a point.

As ministers already have the power to give financial assistance to any person, including small businesses and microbusinesses, for any scheme or programme with the purpose of preventing or reducing waste, I do not believe that amendment 29 is necessary.

I will take Mr Lumsden’s intervention.

So—

Mr Simpson is making the same points that many people have made about the scourge of fly-tipping and the unfairness that exists when landowners have to clear it up.

It is not fair to say that nothing has been done. There is a fly-tipping forum and the national litter and fly-tipping strategy has been delivered, as have the year 1 action plan and a number of activities that are aimed at tackling fly-tipping on private land. However, I think that I have been clear that I want to work with Mr Fraser on the sentiment behind amendment 203.

I do not want to give any impression that we are working with Mr Fraser on repealing section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. We are working to deal with the reasons why Mr Fraser lodged amendment 202; we want to ensure better communication and to allow scope for further guidance so as to achieve what he wanted to with his amendment.

Thank you, convener. I want to quote Ms Lennon back. When we have good practice, how can we support local authorities to replicate it? That gets to the nub of the amendments and the debate that we have just had.

I think that we all agree that the substance behind Ms Lennon’s amendments is laudable. I am supportive of their intent, but we have had a conversation and she knows that I will not be able to support them as they are written because I want the co-design process to be the vehicle for such decisions at local authority level.

Sharing that good practice is absolutely vital. There is an improvement programme under development with COSLA and local government, which will offer a practical route to share best practice on waste prevention measures, including reuse, alongside recycling. The fact that we have had this debate today, and Ms Lennon’s efforts in bringing attention to the issue, will mean that any co-design will have to look at the issue, particularly on reusable nappies. As someone who has raised two babies, I have been reflecting on why I did not go down that route—what stopped me. Of course, the Government has commissioned research to look at the barriers, because that is also at the nub of the issue. Is there a perception that such nappies are too expensive, or that there will be an increased workload for an already struggling young mum? Whatever that research finds—it will come out in the next couple of weeks, as has been mentioned—we have had a really good debate.

The question is how to engender knowledge sharing and prompt similar schemes to happen across Scotland without taking empowerment away from local authorities through a top-down approach. I would be delighted if local authorities across Scotland replicated the North Ayrshire scheme. It sounds incredible, and I pay tribute to those involved. I am happy to consider how we can support and encourage behaviour change in the area and the roll-out of that type of scheme, and how we can encourage that co-design. However, it must be for local authorities to make those decisions—as Ms Lennon has said.

We have already included in our draft route map a commitment to facilitate the sharing of best practice in reusable nappy schemes and to support take-up across Scotland. It is good to hear that Ms Lennon is also speaking to Shirley-Anne Somerville about what more can be done with the baby box. The committee also agreed to amendment 138, which requires having regard to behavioural change in the development of the circular economy strategy. If there is anything that can strengthen that aspect of the strategy or the co-design process, I am happy to work with Ms Lennon on it. I have made that offer to her.

We need to ask what has to be taken into account in the co-design process. Ms Lennon made an interesting point about the voices of those in communities that will be taken into account in the co-design process. Will the voices of new parents be included in that? Is there an unconscious bias in the decisions that are being made around policies? We had an interesting conversation on that in private last week.

On amendment 158, we do not need legislation to prepare the report that Ms Lennon proposes. The committee is aware that we are shortly due to publish baseline research into barriers to the uptake of reusable nappies in Scotland.

I understand why members have proposed the amendments. As set out in the response to the committee’s stage 1 report, we are committed to ensuring that the use of the new fixed-penalty notice powers is both effective and fair. We want to ensure that householders are fully aware of their obligations and that local authorities have appropriate and accessible guidance about how they use the power.

I agree on the importance of raising awareness of a householder’s responsibility through education, engagement, communications and the provision of further guidance. In that respect, I would highlight two relevant key points. First, householders are already required to comply with the householder’s duty of care. They can—and should—already check a waste carrier’s registration details, and they can confirm those details on SEPA’s website to ensure that they are using a legitimate service.

Maurice Golden made a point about awareness raising. In week 1 of stage 2, we said that the right information on websites can be buried under layers and layers of clicks, and there is perhaps a lot to be said for updating and reviewing how user friendly some of those communication methods are.

Secondly, ministers are required under section 34(7) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to prepare and issue a code of practice for the purpose of providing practical guidance on how to discharge the duty of care. The existing code of practice provides guidance to householders on how to meet their duty of care, but it will be amended to take into account the changes made through section 10 of the bill—namely, that a breach of that duty will now be an offence that might be addressed by way of a fixed-penalty notice.

I understand why Jackie Dunbar has lodged amendments 129 and 130, and I thank her for raising the issues. Ensuring that householders are aware of their responsibility to ask for confirmation of a waste carrier’s authorisation or registration to carry waste can be addressed by way of communication and will be included in the updated duty of care code of practice. However, the points that have been made in the debate about displaying that information on waste carriers’ vehicles was helpful. Again, it comes down to the clarity and accessibility of that information.

If there is data on that, I do not have it in front of me. However, just to go back to fly-tipping, I point out that, as part of that strategy, the Government has funded SEPA to analyse the issue and to tackle illegal online trading. That work has already been done, and it will give us a fuller picture.

On amendment 130, an FPN for a breach of the householder’s duty of care may be issued only where there is a reason to believe that the householder has breached the duty by failing to “take reasonable steps”—

Convener, I very much enjoy our private conversations in the lunch queue, and it would be a shame if we could not have those conversations without me being misrepresented. I say that gently because the convener, as a gentleman, has allowed me the chance to come back on that point, and I will address it. I think that I said something slightly different, but we can discuss that when I come to it.

The amendments in this group relate to two themes that have been a specific focus for the committee: first, the importance of ensuring that the new regime for enforcement of household waste requirements is fairly applied; secondly, the potential to standardise the colour of receptacles that are used to collect household waste and recycling. I will address those themes in turn.

Amendment 46 from Maurice Golden and amendment 105 from Sarah Boyack would introduce exemptions from the civil penalty regime, and I will explain why I am not going to accept those amendments.

I agree that, in guidance, we need to consider carefully the intended enforcement approach for communal bins because, clearly, specific factors need to be taken into account. Members have expressed their concerns, and Mr Macpherson expressed his concern about the contamination of waste by passers-by in urban areas. Places such as Edinburgh have a lot of tourists, who might not be familiar with the regime, particularly if the instructions have worn off the bins, as happened in the area of Edinburgh where I live when I am down at Parliament. Some neighbours and I got in touch with the local council to ask whether we could have better signage on the bins, because even I was beginning to get confused about where I should put my waste. Therefore, I completely take that concern on board.

However, I cannot support amendments that would simply exempt a type of householder. If amendment 105 created a blanket exemption for everyone who lives in tenement housing, that would go against the purpose of trying to increase recycling rates. It would be quite a loophole. The provision in relation to civil penalties outlines a clear process and requirements. First, a written warning is issued. It is about tackling persistent, gross, deliberate contamination.