- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the proposed Deposit Return Scheme may contravene the provisions on non-discrimination of goods, which are included in the UK Internal Market Act 2020.
Answer
We are analysing the text of the Act to understand how it could interact with Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), but in order to assess impact fully we need to understand the UK Government’s intentions for its own DRS. We have not yet seen their response to their recent consultation.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its plans to include glass packaging in a Deposit Return Scheme, whether it has considered the impact on overall glass recycling rates of splitting glass into two waste streams for material collected manually and using reverse vending machines.
Answer
Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires those handling waste to ensure that it is handled in a fashion that promotes high-value recycling.
Return points, producers and Circularity Scotland, when handling returned scheme packaging, including glass, will therefore have an obligation to promote high-value recycling regardless of whether the glass is collected manually or by the use of reverse vending machines.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments, regarding potential benefits for industry from its Deposit Return Scheme, by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity at the meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 25 January 2022, that the scheme "will generate about £600 million a year" and that "there is a lot of money to be made", whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of this figure in terms of any potential benefits to industry, and how precisely any such benefits will arise.
Answer
The figure is based on Circularity Scotland Ltd’s assessment of its expected annual turnover as scheme administrator once it is in steady state.
We anticipate that implementation and operation of DRS will generate a range of business and employment opportunities in the extensive infrastructure and logistics required for the scheme, for example in the construction and operating of sorting and bulking centres.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether Circularity Scotland has entered into signed contracts with partners to deliver the Deposit Return Scheme's logistics, operations and IT systems, in line with the timescale that it set out in December 2021.
Answer
The timescale set out in December 2021 was for such contracts to be signed by the end of March 2022. I am aware that Circularity Scotland Ltd is currently in commercial negotiations and it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in the SME sector it anticipates will cease doing business in Scotland as a result of any additional costs of compliance with the proposed Deposit Return Scheme, such as the bar code and labelling requirements.
Answer
Participation of small producers is vital to the success of the scheme and we believe we have taken their needs into consideration in designing DRS.
We have consulted extensively with businesses of all sizes that will be affected by the implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. We are not aware that any producers have decided to cease doing business in Scotland, although we are aware that some have expressed concerns about whether they will continue to sell their products in Scotland.
This is one of the reasons why we have applied a de minimis for the SEPA registration fee. This will remove a cost for businesses operating below the current VAT threshold, benefiting around 1,600 of the more than 4,000 anticipated producers selling into the Scottish market
- Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide for early career researchers in medical research (a) in general and (b) at the British Heart Foundation’s Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, in light of reports that its funding has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answer
The Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office run a range of Fellowship schemes for early career researchers to build capacity for health research in Scotland. These schemes are open to researchers in all fields including cardiovascular research. Applications are subject to peer review with funding recommendations made by independent panels.
Clinical Academic Training Fellowship Scheme to enable early career researchers to undertake a PhD.
Clinical Academic Fellowships – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)
NES/CSO Postdoctoral Clinical Lectureships to enable medics with a PhD to have 50% research time while completing training.
Joint NES/CSO Postdoctoral Clinical Lectureships – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)
Early Postdoctoral Fellowship providing 3 years of funding for early career researchers to develop their academic career.
Early Postdoctoral Fellowship – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)
Researchers at the British Heart Foundation's Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre are eligible for these awards.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the Valpak report, Deposit Return Schemes for Drinks Containers, and its findings that a majority of people prefer a kerbside collection scheme to be used for recycling.
Answer
Public support for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is high.
Zero Waste Scotland’s consumer research indicates that 71% of the public support the introduction of DRS.
Kerbside collection remains important since it enables people to recycle non-scheme items. Additionally, DRS will help local authority waste management services to free up capacity to support wider collection services and improve recycling rates on other materials.
Furthermore, DRS will significantly increase the quantity and quality of glass recyclate, creating an aggregated and high-quality feedstock for reprocessing.
We do not believe an enhanced kerbside scheme could deliver the level or rate of improvement that we will see through DRS. Packaging recycling rates have stalled, including for glass, and the current producer responsibility system is not driving improvement.
DRS should deliver an 85% collection rate for glass by the second full year of operation at the latest.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will include prison data in the 18-week psychological therapies waiting time standard.
Answer
Psychological Therapies (PT) delivered in any service setting is already included within the 18-week PT waiting time standard and delivery of PT in forensic services should be counted in the PT standard. This is not consistently happening at the moment and to help ensure that services deliver and measure Psychological Therapies across in a more standardised way across Scotland a new national standard for Psychological Services and Therapies is currently under development with a publication date of Summer 2022.
Additionally, in order to ensure consistency in the quality of service delivery across Scotland, Scottish Government has worked with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to produce the Psychological Therapies 'Matrix' - a stepped guide to planning and delivering evidence-based psychological therapies within NHS Boards in Scotland. Matrix - A guide to delivering evidence-based psychological (scot.nhs.uk)
The Matrix is published by NES, in partnership with the Scottish Government and provides a summary of the information on the current evidence base for various therapeutic approaches, guidance on well-functioning psychological therapies services, and advice on important governance issues.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of people living in town centres.
Answer
Increasing the number of people living in town centres was one of the themes in the Scottish Government's Town Centre Action Plan (TCAP) and is also one of the recommendations made by the independent review of TCAP 'A New future for Scotland's Town Centres', which was published in February 2021. We are working with COSLA and partners to respond to the review with a revised action plan which will be published later in the spring.
The Draft national Planning Framework 4 contains a new policy, dedicated to town centre living, calling on planning authorities to proactively encourage and support opportunities for town centre living.
Our Housing to 2040 strategy puts ambitions for place at its core, investing in town centres and making it easier for homes to be at the heart of thriving communities by: investing in a rolling programme of demonstrator locations, providing expertise, resources and matched funding to help illustrate what future Town Centre Living and 20 minute neighbourhood models can look like. We will also continue to support partners through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme to deliver affordable housing in town centres where this has been identified as a strategic priority.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the equity of provision of clinical psychology services across the prison estate.
Answer
The Scottish Government takes seriously the responsibility to ensure those going through the criminal justice system with mental health issues are appropriately supported, treated and cared for, while ensuring their rights are being maintained, especially during these challenging times that may have a significant impact on people’s mental wellbeing.
A new national standard for Psychological Services and Therapies, which will describe what good quality psychological care looks like, is currently under development with a publication date of Summer 2022. This will include describing the provision of care in forensic and prison services. This will help ensure that Psychological Therapy services and therapies are delivered and measured in equitable ways across the prison estate in Scotland.
The Scottish Government has invested £9 million in 2021-22 for Psychological services in Scotland to grow the Applied Psychology, and Psychological Therapies workforce. Further funding will be provided for 2022-23 to support services to provide Psychological care to all clinical areas of care detailed in the Psychological Services and Therapies standard.