Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S7W-03469

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its updated Wildfire Strategic Action Plan and what additional measures the plan will contain to reduce the risk of wildfires.

Question reference: S7W-03467

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that local communities receive meaningful financial benefits from new onshore renewable energy developments.

Question reference: S7W-03468

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 October 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 100,000 properties identified in its Programme for Government are expected to have benefited from energy efficiency measures by the end of financial year 2026-27.

Question reference: S7W-02905

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been recovered from individuals and organisations involved in illegal waste operations in each of the last five years.

SEPA has provided the following information on Fixed Monetary Penalties (FMPs) and Variable Monetary Penalties (VMPs) paid in relation to waste related activities under relevant legislation. The value of penalties paid in each of the last five financial years is set out in Table 3 in below.

Monetary Penalties paid 3[AD1]

	FY2021-22	FY2022-23	FY2023-24	FY2024-25	FY2025-26
FMPs Paid	£3,000	£4,959	£7,046	£3,540	£9,100
VMPs Paid	-	-	£8,010	-	£8,385
Total	£3,000	£4,959	£15,056	£3,540	£17,485

3 Any monies paid to SEPA in response to issued monetary penalties are transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund. SEPA do not receive Court Fine payments or Proceeds of Crime Confiscations.

In addition, where penalties remain outstanding, debt recovery action is initiated or repayment plans agreed. All outstanding unpaid Penalties have been referred to debt collection as of 7 September 2026.

The current cumulative value of outstanding penalties subject to recovery action or repayment arrangements is £66,003.67 for VMPs and £20,180 for FMPs.

These figures relate to the issuance of any FMP or VMP by SEPA for offences under Control of Pollution Act 1989, Environmental Protection Act 1990, Environment Act 1995, and Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018. These figures do not include fines imposed by the Courts or confiscations through Proceeds of Crime for criminal proceedings in relation to illegal waste offences.

Question reference: S7W-02906

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the total cost to taxpayers of investigating, securing and clearing illegal waste sites over the last five years, and what proportion of these costs has subsequently been recovered from those responsible.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally and does not hold estimates of the annual costs associated with waste crime which could be split across a number of public bodies and enforcement agencies. For information of this nature, you may wish to contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Police Scotland and local authorities, as they may be able to assist further.

Question reference: S7W-02902

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified any illegal waste sites in Scotland containing more than 20,000 tonnes of waste, comparable to the "super sites" recently identified in England, and, if so, how many such sites are known to SEPA.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has provided data on the number of illegal waste sites containing more than 20,000 tonnes in Scotland and this is set out in the following table. The data provided is based on the investigation progress as of 7September 2026.

SEPA seeks to disrupt identified illegal activity as quickly as possible using an interventions approach to minimise the occurrence of ‘super sites’ as far as possible.

Further Information is available from SEPA.

Illegal waste sites identified with an excess of 20,000 tonnes of waste^[1]evidenced

Site Location (SEPA Geographic Locations)	Number of known Sites
Argyll, Hebrides and South Highlands	n/a
Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders	n/a
Fife, Angus and Dundee	n/a
Falkirk, Alloa, Stirling and Perth	n/a
Grampian & Speyside	n/a
Greater Glasgow and Clyde Estuary	n/a
Lanarkshire	1ⁱ
North Highland and Northern Isles	n/a

^[1]Waste remains in-situ with investigation ongoing. Tonnage not yet determined as deposits are above and below ground.

It should be noted that where SEPA investigations are still active, the tonnage may not yet be fully determined or it may be part of the evidence. As such, any data released into the public domain could compromise the investigation, influence witness statements, affect future court proceedings or impact the privacy of those involved. The data provided is set out to protect detection and investigative processes.

Throughout an investigation the calculated tonnage on site may increase or decrease, e.g. it may be determined that the illegal deposit initially identified as being above ground extends below ground level upon further investigation, resulting in an increase in tonnage. The actual tonnage of waste on a site can only be fully known once the waste has been removed and Waste Transfer Notes / Special Waste Consignment Notes / Invoices provide the definitive weight.

Question reference: S7W-02904

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is satisfied that the current definition and recording of waste crime adequately capture large-scale illegal waste operations, including sites where waste is deliberately stored or buried over an extended period, rather than being disposed of through fly-tipping.

Question reference: S7W-02903

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many high-priority illegal waste sites SEPA is currently monitoring, broken down by (a) estimated tonnage of waste and (b) site location.

SEPA has advised that it uses a risk model that provides a score to allow prioritisation. At the start of 2026-27 there were 76 sites classified as high priority. Of these, 45 sites were identified as deposit of waste or disposal of waste by burial. Investigation and Enforcement action has concluded at one site with full compliance achieved and this will not be included in the data set.

Since the start of 2026-27 a further six high-priority illegal waste sites have been identified, providing a total of 50 high-priority waste sites being actively investigated. Of these 50 sites, 7 have been sufficiently disrupted to reduce the risk to the environment and communities however, investigations will continue until the identified outcome has been achieved.

High priority 1 monitored illegal waste sites.

Site Location (SEPA Geographic Locations)	Site identifier	Estimated Tonnage
Argyll, Hebrides and South Highlands	Site 1	145
Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders	Site 1	725
Site 2	725
Fife, Angus and Dundee	Site 1	725
Site 2	>725
Site 3	145
Site 4	145
Falkirk, Alloa, Stirling and Perth	Site 1	300
Grampian & Speyside	Site 1	300
Site 2	145
Greater Glasgow and Clyde Estuary	Site 1	300
Site 2	>725
Site 3	75
Site 4	300
Site 5	>725
Site 6	725
Site 7	145
Site 8	>725
Site 9	145
Site 10	145
Site 11	>725
Site 12	725
Lanarkshire	Site 1	>725
Site 2	725
Site 3	725
Site 4	>725
Site 5	300
Site 6	725
Site 7	145
Site 8	300
Site 9	>725
Site 10	725
Site 11	>725
Site 12	145
Site 13	>725
Site 14	>725
Site 15	145
Site 16	145
North Highland and Northern Isles	Site 1	145
Site 2	300
Site 3	300
Site 4	300
Site 5	145
South West Scotland	Site 1	145
Site 2	725
Site 3	145
Site 4	300
Site 5	>725
Site 6	>725

1 For prioritisation purposes SEPA do not record exact or estimated tonnages. SEPA record estimated financial benefit so a calculation using estimated financial benefit and the UK landfill tax rate of £130.75 per tonne has been used to estimate tonnage. SEPA’s Digital Transformation Project will improve the data captured as part of a centralised repository of investigations. Where SEPA investigations are still active the tonnage may not yet be fully determined or it may be part of the evidence. As such, any data released into the public domain could compromise the investigation, influence witness statements, affect future court proceedings or impact the privacy of those involved. The data provided is set out to protect detection and investigative processes.

Throughout an investigation the calculated tonnage on site may increase or decrease, e.g. it may be determined that the illegal deposit initially identified as being above ground extends below ground level upon further investigation resulting in an increase in tonnage. Definitive tonnages of waste on significant waste disposal sites will only ever be available following site removal of the waste.

The data provided is based on the investigation progress as of 7 September 2026.

Further Information is available from SEPA.

Question reference: S7W-02907

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many vehicles have been searched or seized using powers introduced under the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 in relation to suspected illegal waste activity, and how many of these cases have led to enforcement action since the introduction of the Act.

Question reference: S7W-02462

Asked by: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, MSP for Edinburgh Northern, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 August 2026
Current Status: Answered by Liam McArthur (on behalf of the SPCB) on 15 September 2026

To ask the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body when the Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland will be appointed.

The Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland will be an independent SPCB supported officeholder. Recruitment will be undertaken by a cross-party selection panel. The successful candidate will be appointed by His Majesty, on the nomination of the Scottish Parliament.

This will be a high-profile public appointment. The selection panel will have an important role to play in ensuring that a high calibre candidate is appointed and we therefore need the interview process to be thorough and robust.

The Presiding Officer has appointed the cross-party panel and the role is expected to be advertised in September 2026. If a successful candidate is identified as part of this recruitment exercise it is hoped they will be appointed by the end of the year.