Chamber and committees

Scottish Government does not hold information on the cost of tackling litter in each local authority. Local Authorities are responsible for clearing litter on public land. They will be providing information on the costs of tackling litter as part of the forthcoming research on the scale and cost of litter and flytipping in Scotland.

The total visits, from 2014-15 to now, are split across the Recycle for Scotland (RfS) site, when it was standalone, and the new How to Waste Less (HTWL) site, which the RfS site was incorporated into in April 2020.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is a relative measure of deprivation which ranks 6,976 small areas (called data zones). Rank 1 represents the most deprived data zone in Scotland and 6,976 represents the least deprived data zone in Scotland. The rankings are split into deciles 1-10, which define the deprivation levels in 10% bands. Data zones in decile 1 are among the 10% most deprived areas in Scotland, and data zones in decile 10 are among the 10% least deprived.

The following table shows the SIMD decile for incineration facilities operational in Scotland in 2019, accepting household or commercial waste.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party agree that transport plays a crucial role in supporting a green and fair recovery and our shared position on this is included in the draft shared policy programme, forming part of the cooperation agreement.

We believe that bold action is needed to increase the pace of change and the scale of investment to support the priorities and outcomes set out in the National Transport Strategy, including our ambitious climate goals. We agree that in the face of the climate emergency we need to shift away from spending money on new road projects that encourage more people to drive, and instead focus our money and effort on maintaining roads, improving safety and providing a realistic and affordable alternative through investing in public transport and active travel.

The Sustainable Investment Hierarchy contained in the second National Transport Strategy and published in February 2020, can trace its linage back to the first Strategic Transport Projects Review in 2008, which in turn was developed from Scotland’s first National Transport Strategy (NTS) published in 2006. This was enhanced as part of the second NTS to include reducing the need to travel unsustainably at the top of the hierarchy. In addition, NTS sets out the commitment to ensure we will not build road infrastructure to cater for forecast unconstrained increases in traffic volumes.

We need to balance the significant changes in travel behaviour required to meet a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions with our duty to ensure that Scotland has high quality infrastructure to meet the needs of all our residents, businesses and visitors. That is why we are continuing work on our programme of trunk road improvement scheme to improve resilience, safety and deliver sustainable inclusive growth for the people of Scotland. Work on the trunk roads projects and programmes under construction, procurement or design and development continue and are subject to the statutory assessment and business case processes.

Waste incinerators are required to monitor and report their carbon dioxide emissions as a ‘Part A process’ under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require permitted sites to report specified pollutants, including carbon dioxide, which are then published in the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI). The SPRI is available here: Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI)

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) no longer have recognition rate information for the Recycle for Scotland brand year-on-year as they stopped their tracker in 2015. The Recycle for Scotland website and associated pages have also been incorporated into ZWS’s How To Waste Less platform launched in April 2020. However, the latest recognition data comes from their Consumer Behaviour and Attitudes Survey carried out in February 2020. This survey was issued to 2331 householders who were responsible for recycling in their household. The recognition data is listed below:

• The ‘swoosh arrow’ part of the Recycle for Scotland logo: 63%

• Recycle for Scotland logo: 32%

Scottish Government is not aware of any public funding being provided for the clean-up and decommissioning of any incineration plant in the last 10 years.

National statistics (UK) released on 17 June show that 10,660 hectares of new woodland was created in Scotland in 2020/21, the equivalent of over 21 million trees in the ground and around 80% of all trees planted across the UK

However COVID restrictions, combined with heavy rain and snow across most of Scotland in March, resulted in unavoidable delays to planting. Despite this we achieved 89% of the woodland creation target in 2020-21 and the remaining 11% was planted during the remainder of the planting season in April, May and June, during the first 100 days

Self-Directed Support (SDS) is Scotland’s mainstream approach to social care that seeks to give unpaid carers and people receiving care and/or support flexibility, choice and control to meet their own personal outcomes, using a human rights based approach. In March 2021 the SDS Framework of Standards was published. This enables and encourages both local authorities and individuals to use Self-Directed Support in a flexible manner, enabling consideration out with traditional support services that may have been previously provided.

Scottish Government also funds independent support providers across Scotland to support people to arrange support that meets their needs by providing advocacy, information and advice on social care at local levels.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02365 on 3 September 2021. 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