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: S6W-25444

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the most recent list, broken down by local authority, of projects funded, or confirmed to be funded if not already begun, through the Recycling Improvement Fund.

To date, 37 projects from 25 local authorities have been approved for funding through the Recycling Improvement Fund (RIF) and the Fund’s Small Grant Scheme.

A list of local authorities and projects approved through the RIF is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/recycling-improvement-fund .

A list of local authorities and projects who have been approved for funding through the RIF Small Grant Scheme is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/recycling-improvement-fund-small-grant-scheme .

Zero Waste Scotland is in regular contact with local authorities to support new applications.

Question reference: S6W-24998

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which food waste initiatives it has funded since 2013; how much each initiative cost, and what (a) food waste and (b) carbon impact reduction each initiative achieved.

Question reference: S6W-24996

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Review of the 2019 Food Waste Reduction Action Plan, whether it will provide an update on what its position is regarding the feasibility of its target of reducing food waste by 33% by 2025.

As noted in the recently published Draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map , Scotland is highly unlikely to meet its target to reduce food waste by 33% by 2025. To accelerate our rate of progress, the Scottish Government has committed to reset its approach to tackle food waste, and is engaging with key partners across the food and drink sector to identify effective food waste reduction actions.

Question reference: S6W-24988

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much food waste has been produced by its operations in Scotland in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S6W-24987

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the status is of the food waste project being developed for secondary schools, as set out in the document, Review of the 2019 Food Waste Reduction Action Plan.

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) supported this project which was led by Developing Young Workforce (DYW) Dundee & Angus, in partnership with the Food and Drink Federation Scotland and the Food & Drink Team at Abertay University.Despite schools being provided with resources and financial incentives to take part, there was low uptake, resulting in the project not being taken forward.

For further details of the guidance that ZWS issued to schools, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24284 on 10 January 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-24995

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the 2021 estimate for food waste, whether it will provide an updated estimate of the cost to households of unnecessary food and drink purchases, as set out in the report, Household food and drink waste in Scotland 2014.

Question reference: S6W-24990

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the status is of the schools food waste pilot that began in autumn 2021, and what progress has been made on establishing a baseline for school food waste.

Zero Waste Scotland supported Glasgow City Council Education Services to run a food waste pilot across five schools in 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and the cost of living crisis, operational priorities shifted towards cost of living support. As a result, the project was only partly delivered.

Zero Waste Scotland has undertaken analysis of data gathered and provided a food waste baseline and recommendations for reduction to these schools.

Question reference: S6W-24986

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to use the data gathered in the 2021 Scottish Food Waste Estimate to estimate the (a) quantity and (b) carbon impact of food waste attributable to the (i) education and (ii) health sector.

Question reference: S6W-24993

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many food redistribution services are currently available in each local authority area, and how much food was redistributed in each area in the most recent year for which data is available.

Question reference: S6W-24992

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much public funding has been spent on communications related to food waste reduction in each year since 2016.

There was Scottish Government marketing spend in the below years. Figures are provided, along with links to the full published reports, for the Member’s ease.

2018 – 2019: £303,516.65 - https://www.gov.scot/publications/marketing-spend-2018-2019/ ;
2019 – 2020: £86,102.44 - https://www.gov.scot/publications/marketing-spend-2019-2020/
2021 – 2022 - £171,653.75 - https://www.gov.scot/publications/marketing-spend-2021-to-2022/

Based on available information up until 2022, the total marketing spend from 2016 was £561,272.84.

In addition, the total spent on food waste communications activities by the Scottish Government’s Circular Economy Division from 2016 to present was £175,766.93.

Finally, the Scottish Government funds Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) to deliver the Food Waste reduction programme. ZWS has confirmed the total spent on communications for food waste reduction activities since September 2017 was £897,000. For a breakdown of this spend, ZWS can be contacted by email at: [email protected].