Chamber and committees

In accordance with the Public Appointments Team’s data retention policy, the retention period for documents supporting the public appointments process is five years after the appointment tenure in post has ended. Therefore we do not hold any information regarding public appointments which ended prior to December 2019.

We also do not hold any information regarding public appointments made prior to 2011.

To provide data for appointments made between 2011 and 2019 would include data from over 360 appointment rounds, some of which were for several appointees. Information for each appointment round would have to be searched individually for the information requested, which we estimate would take at least seven working days, therefore incurring a disproportionate cost.

We are unable to provide estimated costs of providing the information requested in questions S6W-12529 and S6W-31824 but would like to confirm that these costs would be disproportionate for the reason given above.

a) The exact cost of obtaining the information has not been calculated but it is estimated to exceed the cost limit due to the number of cases and other matters that would require to be considered individually by officials.

b) Link to the published SG accounts on the SG website can be found here to show legal costs across multiple financial years. –

– Financial reports and accounts - Government finance - gov.scot

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, land contamination is the responsibility of local authorities. Any land which is identified as being contaminated, including any contaminated by historic metal mining, should be managed in accordance with their routine regime of identifying and securing remediation for contaminated land.

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 do not include a power to seize single use plastic items. They do, however, allow the taking of samples of articles or substances found in any premises that the enforcement officer enters. These samples, which could include single use plastic items, can then be retained for the purposes of examination and testing and to be used in evidence in any proceedings for an offence under the Regulations. Information on any samples taken and retained may be available from the enforcement authorities.

Data on the usage of the noted material could be obtained through a range of activity including population surveys, waste composition analysis, cross-border trade analysis and studies of the weight and carbon impact of typical products.

It should be noted that, as the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 place restrictions on supplying the single-use plastic products in question in the course of a business, sales data in Scotland would therefore be of limited value in ascertaining usage.

In the 2023-24 financial year, the number of case-accused with at least one charge that resulted in them receiving either a deprivation or disqualification order was eighty-five.

The Scottish Government has not conducted specific analysis on the effectiveness of previous efforts to raise public awareness of proper battery disposal. However, feedback from stakeholders, including local authorities and industry partners, has highlighted several ongoing challenges:

• Public Awareness Gaps: A significant proportion of the public remains unaware of the environmental risks posed by improper battery disposal and the recycling options available to them.
• Accessibility Issues: Recycling points for batteries are not always easily accessible or visible, particularly in rural areas.
• Messaging Limitations: Previous public awareness efforts have lacked the reach and consistency needed to drive long-term behavioural change.

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) are currently reviewing its operational delivery model for SORT. The findings of the review will be discussed with the Scottish Government to ensure any changes in operational delivery meet with the expectations set out in the service level agreement, and that SAS is able to provide a safe and sustainable response to potentially hazardous and significant incidents.

The UK Government’s decision to remove glass from its own scheme and refusal to agree a full Internal Market Act exclusion for Scotland’s own scheme meant we were left with no choice but to delay our scheme last year.

Scotland’s scheme would have been operational in 2024 and would already be improving our recycling rates, however, the Internal Market Act prevented us from moving forward with a deposit return scheme as intended.

Urgent action is needed from the UK Government to repeal the Internal Market Act and restore the full powers of devolved Parliaments.

Until then, the UK scheme remains the only practical option available to Scotland. The Scottish Government is committed to seeing it delivered by October 2027 and will continue to work to that end. We opened applications for a DRS scheme administrator alongside England and Northern Ireland at the start of December.

Any move towards cleaner fuels must take place as part of a just transition, whilst ensuring that no one is left in fuel poverty.

The Scottish Government is currently gathering further evidence around the potential impacts of taking forward a ban on the sale of house coal on fuel supplies. We are also carefully considering the potential impacts on costs in rural and islands communities, where many still rely on coal for primary heating and/or secondary back up. We will announce next steps in the first part of 2025.