Chamber and committees

Former employees of Circularity Scotland attended a Deposit Return Scheme Four Nations Interoperability Workshop in Edinburgh on 27 June 2023 following the organisation going into administration to provide insight into their experience of DRS in Scotland. Scottish Government officials have continued to work with staff acting for Circularity Scotland, administrators and partners.

Biffa, a former contractor of Circularity Scotland, attended a Deposit Return Scheme Four Nations Interoperability Workshop in Edinburgh on 27 June 2023 following Circularity Scotland going into administration to provide insight into their experience in Scotland. Throughout the period Scottish Government has continued to work closely with staff acting for Circularity Scotland, administrators and partners.

In July 2023, in accordance with Regulation 17(1)(c) of the Deposit and Return Scheme Regulations 2020, Scottish Ministers decided to withdraw scheme administrator approval for Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) following notification that they had entered administration. If CSL's representatives do not ask for a review of this decision, the company ceases to be scheme administrator with effect from 17 August 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20057 on 15 August 2023. 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

In response to the Just Transition Commission’s letter providing further advice on the Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) published on 17 April 2023, the Scottish Government issued a reply on 9 May 2023. This can be found online: Just Transition: letter to Just Transition Commission 9 May 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We are currently awaiting independent analysis of the large volume of responses received from the public consultation held on the draft ESJTP. We are fully considering stakeholder views including those of the Just Transition Commission and will engage with them further as we finalise the ESJTP.

The £500 million Just Transition Fund for North East and Moray has allocated £75 million to date, including a multi-year capital programme supporting 24 projects. The open and competitive bidding round assessed projects against published criteria in line with public finance guidelines. Details of successful projects are published here: Just Transition Fund: year one projects - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . I have committed to regular updates on progress towards a just transition to net zero to Parliament and the Just Transition Commission.

The pathfinder projects supported through the Green Growth Accelerator are still at the development stage and, as such, no private investment has been secured yet.

The Scottish Government welcomes this research and agrees with the need for Net Zero to be implemented in a manner that achieves maximum benefit for all of society. Through our Just Transition Planning and publication of the next Climate Change Plan we will ensure that we act quickly to achieve our Net Zero ambitions in a manner that assures inequalities are tackled in partnership with Scotland’s local communities.

Scottish Government officials were in regular discussions with UK Government officials regarding the Internal Market Act (IMA) exclusion process for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Throughout these discussions officials made it clear that not providing a timely and complete exclusion would jeopardise the future of the DRS in Scotland and by extension the viability of Circularity Scotland. Scottish Ministers and officials wrote to UK Ministers a number of times throughout April and May highlighting the risk to the scheme and to Circularity Scotland due to the uncertainty around the IMA exclusion. This included letters from myself on 19 May and from the First Minister on 22 April and 3 May 2023.

We employ methodologies which align to the Scottish Public Finance Manual. These include processes, guidance and techniques for identifying, owning, assessing, reviewing and reporting risks, risk appetite and response.