Chamber and committees

This is a matter for individual public sector bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for individual public sector bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for individual public sector bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for individual public sector bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for individual public sector bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

Scottish Government has set out a range of measures to deal with food waste, and other kinds of waste, in Scotland''s Zero Waste Plans.

We are currently consulting on this plan and a draft may be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/08/19141153/2.

However, the reduction of food waste, as well as any other kind of waste, is not a matter solely for the Scottish Government. Public and private organisations of all types have a responsibility to reduce their own waste, including food waste, also to ensure any waste that is produced is handled responsibly.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0903-01.htm

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) resources and functions are not assigned specifically to either urban or non-urban sources of pollution, therefore the following estimate of costs is very crude.

Approximately two thirds of SEPA''s activities are associated in some way with the tracing of urban pollution, accounting for approximately £53 million and 900 staff. This staffing estimate includes those staff directly involved in the regulation and monitoring of potential urban impacts (such as environment protection officers, legal staff and science staff) and also SEPA''s support service staff such as human resources, admin and finance.

Local authorities in Scotland receive, as part of the financial support from the Scottish Government, a contribution towards funding of air quality assessment work in their areas. The Scottish Government also provides grant support of about £1.5 million per annum to urban local authorities who have declared air quality management areas under the Environment Act 1995.

The Scottish Government currently funds strategic research into enhancing water quality through the Scottish Rural Development Programme, to deliver the objectives of the Water Framework Directive river basin management plans. This research includes aspects of catchment management, understanding sources and movement of diffuse pollution, impacts of geomorphology and engineering upon water bodies, and adaptation of water resource management to respond to the pressures associated with climate change.

The Scottish Government is also funding research on agriculture and biodiversity, aiming to minimise the environmental impacts (including diffuse pollution) of crop and livestock systems. This research also addresses the integration of land and water management for flood alleviation, impacts of climate change, nitrogen deposition and land management on the biodiversity of wetlands.

There is no information held centrally on how many jobs such funding might directly support.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has statutory responsibility for controlling potential sources of pollution from sites it regulates in urban areas. These include emissions from industrial facilities, sewage treatment works and surface water drainage and waste management activities. SEPA is able to determine the location of environmental emission sources within regulated sites and monitor and assess the accumulative environmental impacts of such emissions. In addition, SEPA''s environmental surveillance monitoring enables it to trace and investigate any unauthorised emissions, together with any potential pollution incidents notified by members of the public.

Additionally, the Scottish Government assists local authorities to implement their duties under the Environment Act 1995 to review and assess air quality by issuing comprehensive guidance, which can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/waste-and-pollution/Pollution-1/16215/TG09.