Chamber and committees

Local authorities are currently working with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to prepare Area Waste Plans outlining how future waste management should be carried out in each area. I am pleased that the Executive has been able to assist authorities to begin making improvements to recycling and composting.

On 25 October 2000 Sarah Boyack announced that £3 million was to be made available this year for distribution (using a population-based formula) between all local authorities to allow them to invest in recycling and composting. In November, authorities were invited to submit proposals for projects showing how they wished to spend the funds to increase or improve recycling and/or composting carried out in their area.

Each authority will be offered a grant to carry out the projects as proposed and in most cases I expect work will begin almost immediately, with improvements in the service available being quickly noticeable. The projects range from small scale purchases of capital equipment (e.g. waste shredders to enable composting of organic waste, recycling collection banks for cans, glass etc.), larger equipment such as vehicles for kerbside collection of paper and other recyclable materials, and revenue funding to operate recycling schemes (such as provision of home composting equipment, recycling advice and materials sorting or composting operations). The funding available to each authority and a summary of the projects to be carried out is shown in the table.

Local authority recycling and composting projects to be funded from £3million grant

COUNCIL	GRANT(£)	PROJECT
Aberdeen City	106,000	Shredder & equip. for green waste composting scheme
Aberdeenshire	188,000	2 Shredders, baling equip & skips, composters, recycling boxes & bins
Angus	75,000	Recycling collection, separation and baling equipment for cans and paper; waste analysis study
Argyll & Bute	80,000	Shredders, composting leaflets, cardboard balers, cooking oil collection, extend rural recycling activities, carry out education & survey work on Mull.
Clackmannanshire	25,000	(With Stirling) Pilot mixed recyclables collection scheme
Dumfries & Gall.	123,000	Mobile shredder for garden waste for composting
Dundee City	72,000	Local recycling centres, publicity, sorter & picking belt for Civic Amenity site, plastic recycling banks, compost collection
East Ayrshire	66,000	New recycling body for existing vehicle, improved kerbside collections, recruit staff for MRF, home composters, recycling containers for Council offices
East Dunb.shire	53,000	Pilot mixed recyclables kerbside collection scheme
East Lothian	53,000	Hire recycling vehicle for glass, 10 new bottle bank sites
East Renfrewshire	42,000	Home composting initiative with subsidised units
City of Edinburgh	223,000	Kerbside paper collection, recycling containers, compaction equipment, publicity for home composting
Eilean Siar	29,000	Expand range of materials collected for recycling
Falkirk	73,000	Shredder for organic waste
Fife	187,000	Equipment for green waste composting scheme, oil banks, aluminium foil containers, pilot schemes for home composting and waste paper collection
Glasgow City	302,000	Vehicle and equipment for composting scheme, waste analysis
Highland	190,000	Vehicle and equipment for aluminium collection, composters
Inverclyde	41,000	Extend rural household collection services
Midlothian	43,000	Can, glass and paper banks
Moray	58,000	Shredder for organic waste, home composters
North Ayrshire	76,000	Wheeled bins for composting garden waste
North Lanarkshire	158,000	Home composters, paint recycling containers, equip for recovering refrigerants, schools can recycling initiative
Orkney Islands	21,000	Bottle banks and kerbside boxes for glass recycling
Perth & Kinross	101,000	Shredder, kerbside collection, paper banks, awareness raising initiative, waste analysis
Renfrewshire	87,000	Composting equipment
Scottish Borders	83,000	Shredder, skips for CA sites for composting initiative
Shetland Isles	25,000	Shredder, glass and oil recycling banks, battery boxes, waste minimisation campaign
South Ayrshire	69,000	Home composting initiative with subsidised units
South Lanarkshire	165,000	Collection of garden waste for composting
Stirling	59,000	(With Clackm.) Pilot mixed recyclable collection scheme
West Dunbartonshire	46,000	Macerator & shredder, collect and compost garden waste
West Lothian	81,000	Pilot scheme for segregated collection of household waste

I plan to publish later this year a consultation paper on the Executive's proposals for allocating the 1995 baseline municipal waste figures and landfill targets between Scottish local authorities.

Information on the total amount of all waste landfilled in each local authority area is not held centrally. However, the amounts of local authority waste land filled in 1997 and 1998 can be calculated for most authorities from appendices D and E of the Scottish Waste Statistics 1997-1998, recently published by the Scottish Executive and available in SPICe (Bib. no. 10691). The tonnages are shown in the table.

1997	Total landfilled 1997		Total Landfilled 1998
Local Authority
Angus	46,501		48,610
City of Dundee	92,299		77,422
City of Edinburgh	245,196		252,329
Clackmannan	29,045		28,153
East Lothian	49,075		61,971
Falkirk	85,779		N/A
Fife	N/A		194,675
Midlothian	67,456		62,035
Perth & Kinross	66,240		64,893
Stirling	60,490		75,929
Borders	88,539		78,421
West Lothian	78,691		82,294
Aberdeenshire	129,921		130,833
City of Aberdeen	109,289		125,873
Highland	N/A		153,594
Moray	46,004		48,018
Orkney Islands	N/A		N/A
Shetland Islands	11,931		12,482
Western Isles	N/A		17,716
Argyll & Bute	53,592		N/A
City of Glasgow	305,084		312,478
Dumfries & Galloway	72,661		70,177
East Ayrshire	62,678		60,000
East Dunbartonshire	56,267		52,570
East Renfrewshire	N/A		48,926
Inverclyde	44,357		39,123
North Ayrshire	N/A		88,710
North Lanarkshire	167,184		149,015
Renfrewshire	N/A		N/A
South Ayrshire	63,319		63,245
South Lanarkshire	229,877		222,040
West Dunbartonshire	N/A		56,398

NA: no data available.

The Scottish Executive intends to take advantage of the provision in the Landfill Directive which allows the UK, as a member state that landfilled more than 80% of their municipal waste in 1995, to postpone the attainment of the landfill reduction target dates by up to four years. There is no need to apply to Europe to make use of the provision, although member states must inform the European Commission of their strategy for implementation of the targets by July 2003.

I expect the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to have prepared all 11 Area Waste Plans for public consultation by October this year, although some may be published before then. The Executive has already announced that £3 million is to be available from the Strategic Waste Fund this year to local authorities to improve recycling and composting. As no Area Waste Plans have been completed, no local authority is currently in a position to apply for grant from the £50.4 million provision which the Executive has allocated over the next three years for implementing the Area Waste Plans.

There has been no specific consideration of provision for children and adults with attention deficiency disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) in recent reviews. However, the Scottish Executive is providing over £5 million per year to local authorities for the development and training of classroom-based staff and trainee educational psychologists working with children with special educational needs, including those with ADD/ADHD. £1 million of this funding is directed towards Early Intervention.In addition, the Scottish Executive Alternatives to Exclusion Grant Scheme is supporting projects which will benefit children and young people with ADD/ADHD. These projects include school support units, programmes of personal and social development, enhanced staffing for schools, vocational schemes, behaviour support systems and outreach services into schools.

The Scottish Executive does not currently fund any specific voluntary organisation involved exclusively in supporting children and adults with attention deficiency disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD). However, the Executive's Innovation Grants Programme of £6 million over the three years from April 2000 is supporting various voluntary organisation projects, some of which will benefit children with ADD/ADHD and other social and emotional behavioural difficulties.The Executive also administers grant schemes for voluntary organisations involved in providing support and services in the areas of health and social care. It would be open to any voluntary organisation engaged in supporting children with ADD/ADHD and their families to apply for funding under the appropriate grant scheme. I understand that no application from any such organisation has been received by the Health Department for the coming financial year. Any future application received would be carefully considered on its merits, alongside competing demands. It is impossible to say what the outcome would be.

The Scottish Executive has a contract with Tactica Solutions which commenced in August 1998 for a period of three years plus an option of two one-year extensions, subject to performance.Tactica Solutions was selected on the basis of value for money and ability to deliver, following competition and detailed evaluation of a number of proposals to provide a comprehensive service for design and production of publications. Tactica Solutions provides a managed service for document design and production, ensuring that the final product meets the criteria for official publications. Approximately 80% of the expenditure under this contract (£4,900,000) is in respect of business placed by Tactica Solutions with sub-contractors.

The contract with Tactica Solutions which commenced in August 1998 is for the provision of a managed service for the design, print and publications requirements of the Scottish Executive. Approximately 80% (£4,900,000) of the work invoiced by Tactica Solutions in the period July 1999 through October 2000 is for work sub-contracted to other companies.

Scottish Executive expenditure with, or through, Tactica Solutions for the period 1 July 1999 to 31 October 2000 inclusive was £6,260,000. Tactica Solutions provides a managed service for the design, print and publications requirements of the Scottish Executive. Approximately 80% of the expenditure under this contract (£4,900,000) is in respect of business placed by Tactica Solutions with sub-contractors.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-10883.