Chamber and committees

A breakdown of the Scottish Government marketing spend between 2015-16 and 2018-19 is available on the Scottish Government website:

• 2018-19: https://www.gov.scot/publications/marketing-spend-2018-2019/
• 2017-18: https://www.gov.scot/publications/marketing-spend-2017-2018/
• 2016-17: https://www.gov.scot/publications/marketing-spend-2016-2017/
• 2015-16: https://www.gov.scot/publications/advertising-spend-2015-2016/

The majority of funding for recycling and reuse communication initiatives is provided by Zero Waste Scotland. Table 1 contains the funding provided for national level initiatives funded through Zero Waste Scotland or Scottish Government containing communications to promote increased levels of recycling and reuse in each of the last five years.

Table 2 contains a breakdown of the capital grants allocated by Zero Waste Scotland to Local Authorities to promote increased levels of recycling and reuse between 2015-16 and 2019-20. These costs represent the combined costs of technical and communications support. Separate costs for communication initiatives are not available.

Table 1. National level campaigns to promote increased levels of recycling and reuse in each of the last five years

The current position of no background sound in hospitality in Scotland, including low level music and audio from television, is a measured and cautious approach to reduce risk. There have been no discussions with other countries in relation to this measure. It is being kept under review and government has engaged with industry experts to consider how guidance can be developed to allow low level background sound to be managed safely when transmission rates are back to a manageable level.

As outlined in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan a public review of progress towards the 33% target will take place during 2021, providing updated estimates of total food waste in Scotland and the commercial & industrial and household proportions. Scotland does not currently collect waste data at the granular level necessary to report annually or by supply chain sector.

The developing actions and infrastructure described in the response to question S5W-32200 on 30 October 2020, together with improvement in measurement methodologies will support an enhanced capacity for food waste and surplus measurement and reporting going forward.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government has had no direct engagement with the producers of the Indian film, Bell Bottom. However, we are aware that Screen Scotland engaged with the production in the planning stages and when it arrived in Scotland.

There has been some initial consultation with stakeholders regarding food waste and food surplus reporting within the recent consultation on proposals for legislation in the circular economy bill. It was put forward that there should be a power to enable Scottish Ministers to require mandatory public reporting of unwanted surplus stock and waste of certain materials by Scottish businesses. The full independent analysis of these consultation responses is available on the Scottish Government website .

We remain committed to consulting on the Scottish Government’s proposals for reducing food waste, as set out in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan, in due course.

Just under 250 audits were conducted by Zero Waste Scotland by March 2020 through the Food and Drink Advice and Support Service. Between 2016 and 2019 the service resulted in food waste reductions of 2,500 tonnes of food waste per annum (a carbon saving of 8,700 tonnes of CO ₂ e), and cost savings of £2 million, from the 200 audits during this period. Impact assessment work for 19-20 is not yet available and will increase this figure further; the service is also extending coverage to larger business which will increase savings potential.

I last met with a range of hospitality and tourism representatives on 07 October.

I meet regularly with the industry, often through representative bodies such as the Scottish Tourism Alliance, UK Hospitality and others and a wide range of issues are discussed such as funding support, marketing, test and protect, visitor management, business rates, VAT and other issues.

Scottish Government officials also have weekly contact with the same bodies and others through meetings, phone calls and emails and through strategic groups including the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group and the Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce.

The £70 million recycling fund, announced in our Programme for Government 2020-21, will be delivered over five years beginning in 2021-22.

Zero Waste Scotland is progressing the development of a route map to reducing waste and achieving our 2025 waste targets. Further details, including a timeline for consultation and publication, will be provided in due course.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with representatives of the aviation industry including representatives from airports, airlines, Unions and other aviation stakeholders.

The Scottish Government has not instructed its framework suppliers of IT equipment not to deliver equipment and supplies to people working from home.

Scottish public sector organisations using these frameworks can directly engage with suppliers to discuss their specific order, build and delivery requirements. The procurement frameworks have the flexibility to accommodate requests for bespoke delivery, including home delivery.