Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on ringfencing any funds raised from the extended producer responsibility for packing for investment in frontline waste management services.
Extended producer responsibility for packaging funding will be paid directly to local authorities by PackUK (the scheme administrator) and it will be for each local authority to decide how it manages this funding. Under the Verity House Agreement, local government funding in Scotland will not be ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so. However, the purpose of packaging EPR funding - to pay for the cost of managing household packaging waste - is clearly set out in legislation. There will be no reduction in the local government finance settlement as a result of extended producer responsibility for packaging payments in the first year of the scheme (2025-26).