Chamber and committees

As I stated in my answer to S5W-32552 the Scottish Government are in regular contact with the footballing authorities to discuss a range of issue.

The R&D budget was set at the Scottish Enterprise Board meeting held on 28 February 2020.

In light of the publication of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Scotland's Strategic Framework on 23 October 2020, the Coronavirus (COVID-19): organised activities for children guidance for organised activities and services for children, including babies and toddlers, was updated on 12 November 2020. The guidance is not an instruction for all services and activities to open up at this time, since this will be based on the requirements that need to be met, relevant to each individual delivery setting. Private providers should read this guidance in conjunction with guidance for small businesses: Coronavirus (COVID-19): small and micro businesses guidance .

While our capacity to measure and monitor on a granular and sector specific level develops, we have identified some alternative interim measurement methodologies. For household data, we have utilised waste compositional data from 5 local authorities in Scotland from a wider UK waste compositional study conducted by WRAP. This has been analysed alongside information from Waste Data Flow, the national database that holds data on waste collected by local authorities.

For specific sectors, we have scaled to geographical areas based on economic and demographic metrics from UK level data. For example, we were able, due to the high level of participation in the Courtauld commitment, to calculate the ratio of local units in Scotland to the total local units in the UK in 2018 and this was applied to the total UK retail and wholesale food waste from 2018 to derive the Scottish component.

We have recently provided grant funding to support Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) and Marine Conservation Society (MCS) volunteer-led clean ups and to provide clean, disinfected equipment for small group clean ups in locations across Scotland.

There have been 20 ‘Community Hubs’ set up by KSB, hosted by local organisations, providing kit to local volunteers and 30 sets of kit sent out by MCS to 30 volunteers groups in coastal areas across Scotland.

Previously, a number of community-based projects have been supported including providing funding of £650,000 between 2013-16 to support the Clean Up Scotland campaign led by Keep Scotland Beautiful. This included key targets to engage harder to reach communities and blackspots and to support action beyond the litter pick. In addition, over £1.5 million in grant funded projects was provided to communities and organisations through a range of initiatives. These are: Flytipping Small Grants Scheme, Recycle on the Go, Litter and Flytipping Community Action Fund, Community Options Grant Fund, Innovation Funds and Contextual Messaging Toolkit Communications Fund. These were administered by Zero Waste Scotland.

A contextual messaging toolkit has been developed based on behavioural insights research Public Perceptions and Concerns Around Litter carried published in 2015. The litter toolkit cost £120,000 and helps to provide effective context-specific and local communication messages.

A grant fund was available to organisations to bid in to use the toolkit in situ, a total of 9 organisations received funding across Falkirk, Edinburgh, Highland, North Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Argyll and Bute. A total of £43,000 was awarded to the 9 funding recipients. We do not hold longitudinal data that would allow us to accurately represent what the reduction in litter frequency/volume has been as a result of the local messaging.

Energy from waste (EfW) operators submit quarterly data returns on the types and quantities of waste they accept. These are included in the Official Statistics on Waste Incineration, available at https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/

These returns include items that are unsuitable for processing and picked out of the waste before processing or ash after processing. The next destination of waste leaving the site is a voluntary field in the quarterly return form.

EfW operators must report the types of waste they accept by EWC Code. There is no requirement to report a more detailed compositional analysis of the residual waste they accept. There are no plans to include such a requirement in the regulations.

In the Programme for Government 2020-21 we announced the establishment of a £70 recycling fund to improve local authority collection infrastructure, along with the development of a route map to achieving our 2025 recycling targets. We will work in partnership with COSLA and local authorities to develop and deliver the fund to ensure it supports further improvements in local recycling rates.

Alongside Zero Waste Scotland, we will provide a range of other support to local authorities to ensure high quality recycling, including evaluating the Household Recycling Charter, evaluating its supporting Code of Practice and supporting effective communications with householders.

Through funding supplied to stakeholders, 4,254 Recycle on the Go bins were installed across 22 local authority areas between 2011-2016, providing an estimated 600,000 litres of capacity.

An analysis suggests that the 3,095 bins (450,000 litres of capacity) installed during 2011-2013 collected between 1,300 and 1,900 tonnes per year.

Since 2014, Zero Waste Scotland, SEPA & local authorities
have engaged with several thousand businesses regarding
compliance with the Waste (Scotland) regulations 2012 and
wider resource efficiency measures. Where appropriate, this
engagement included advice on sharing waste collection
services. Data on the number and nature of business
collaborations is not available.

Additionally, through Resource Efficient Scotland, guidance
was provided to businesses to improve waste management
practices. This includes detailed information on the collaborative
commissioning of waste collection services. Support was
provided to Business Improvement Districts as part of this piece of work.https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/sites/default/files/
ImprovingWasteManagementGuideBusinessGroups%20RES.pdf