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-08849

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the proportion of plastic collected in Scotland that will be able to be recycled at the new plastic recycling plant in Fife.

The Scottish Government has made no such estimate.

However, I understand the new plastic recycling plant based in Glenrothes is expected to recycle up to 15,000 tonnes per annum of low-grade post-consumer plastic. This follows an award to Fife Council of £470,000 from the Scottish Government’s Recycling Improvement Fund. Further information is available here: Yes Recycling Fife and Ecosheet , and the latest data on the amount of plastic waste generated and recycled is available at https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/waste-data-for-scotland/ .

Question reference: S6W-08878

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the report on consideration of opportunities to decarbonise waste incineration not being published until autumn 2022, how it will be in a position to respond to the incineration review in June.

We published the Report of Dr Church’s independent review of the role of incineration in Scotland’s waste hierarchy on 10 May 2022. Dr Church sets out 14 recommendations in his report. Two of these recommendations, on decarbonising incineration infrastructure, are provisional pending completion of further work on options to decarbonise residual waste infrastructure.

We will set out our initial response to the 12 full recommendations on 16 June 2022.

Question reference: S6W-08877

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the consideration of opportunities to decarbonise waste incineration has reportedly been removed from the incineration review without consultation.

Consideration of opportunities to decarbonise waste incineration has not been removed from the review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy (the Review).

As independent Chair of the Review, Dr Colin Church determined the detailed scope of the Review, taking account of parameters set by Ministers. The Review prioritised an assessment of the capacity required to manage residual waste in Scotland. It also considered the options for managing residual waste in Scotland; the economic, environmental and social trade-offs of these options; the location of waste management capacity; and options to improve carbon and societal impact of residual waste treatment facilities.

In his Call for Evidence for the Review (published 20 December 2021), Dr Church noted that he intended to commission separate work to review potential options to decarbonise the existing incineration infrastructure in Scotland and that this may extend beyond the initial Review’s timeframe.

We published Dr Church’s main report on 10 May 2022. In this report Dr Church confirmed that the further work on decarbonisation options was expected to last for a further six to nine months. In the meantime, Dr Church has made two provisional recommendations relating to decarbonisation, alongside the 12 full recommendations, in his main report.

At the request of Ministers, Dr Church has agreed to extend his role to provide independent oversight of this additional work.

Question reference: S6W-08787

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31522 by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 September 2020, what subsequent work has been carried out by SEPA and Circularity Scotland to ensure that carbon impact monitoring of the deposit return scheme is ready in time for launch, and whether it will provide an update on current progress with these efforts.

The environmental benefits of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will be realised by the increased collection and recycling of drinks containers that the scheme entails. As scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland will be required to report regularly against collection targets to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); these are set at 80% for 2024 and 90% for each subsequent year.

Significant programmes of work are underway within both Circularity Scotland and SEPA to prepare to deliver its obligations, and monitor its compliance with these obligations, respectively.

Question reference: S6W-08860

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07724 by Mairi McAllan on 9 May 2022, how the additional funding that was authorised but not eventually required by SEPA has been used.

The SEPA budget position for 2020-21 was reported as part of the overall ENFOR Directorate budget monitoring return, which was reporting an underspend, providing flexibility to finance colleagues to offset any potential overspends.

Unutilised funding that is not required for purpose originally allocated is actively re-allocated across Scottish Government to mitigate emerging budget pressures. Where effective re-allocation is not possible due to late declaration of underspend, unutilised funding can be carried forward through the Scottish Reserve for utilisation in a future financial year.

Question reference: S6W-08788

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24274 by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 August 2019, what subsequent engagement it has had with online retailers regarding the cost pressures associated with collection of containers.

The Scottish Government has continued to engage with representatives from retailers who sell drinks online throughout both the development of the policy for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), and into the implementation phase that is presently underway. In addition, the Scottish Government and SEPA jointly held a workshop for retailers on 17 February 2022 to discuss takeback for containers sold online.

Question reference: S6W-08710

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown, by local authority area, of the area of green space currently being created and/or restored through projects funded by (a) the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme and (b) the Nature Restoration Fund.

a)We do not request that each applicant provides a breakdown of green space created and/or restored by the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme. However, 20 projects have received funding from the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme to date and the projects listed in the following table include green space creation as their primary focus.

Project	Local Authority	Project Site Area
Dalmarnock Riverside Park	Clyde Gateway	3.50 ha
Levern Water Revival	East Renfrewshire Council	1.00 ha
Lionthorn bing greenspace	Falkirk Council	3.60 ha
Belle Gro'@ The Meat Market	Glasgow City Council	0.30 ha
Transforming Avenue End Road Greenspace	Glasgow City Council	3.60 ha
Hamiltonhill Green Infrastructure Project	Glasgow City Council	0.90 ha
Ruchazie Greening and Growing project	Glasgow City Council	3.70 ha
Carwood Street Food Growing Project	Inverclyde Council	0.22 ha
Glenmanor Greenspace	North Lanarkshire Council	0.49 ha
Clyde Cycle Park	South Lanarkshire Council	8.25 ha
ONECarluke Community Growing	South Lanarkshire Council	0.60 ha
Community Food Growing – Former Bonhill PS	West Dunbartonshire Council	0.47 ha

Further to this the projects listed in the following table include green space creation as a part of their delivery.

Project	Local Authority	Project Site Area
Western Villages Granton	City of Edinburgh Council	4.50 ha
Greendykes North Affordable Housing	City of Edinburgh Council	2.10 ha

Applications are currently open for Round 3 of the fund (for 2023-24 funding) and we anticipate announcing the next round of successful projects by the end of 2022.

b) We do not hold the information requested. Local Authorities were allocated £5 million from the 2021-22 Nature Restoration Fund. They have been asked to submit returns by the end of May 2022 setting out how the money has been used. Analysis of these returns has not yet started.

Question reference: S6W-08711

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown, by local authority area, showing the progress of work in establishing a nature network, and what support is being provided for that work by the Scottish Government and its agencies.

In our Programme for Government the Scottish Government has committed to developing nature networks across Scotland, as we recognise the key role they can play in protecting and enhancing biodiversity. We are working closely with NatureScot and key stakeholders to develop a national framework and guidance which will help us support Local Authorities and others in developing new, and expanding existing, nature networks. A key part of this work will also be encouraging co-operation and knowledge exchange across local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-08876

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the consistency and reliability of data on delivery and funding of Frank’s Law across all local authorities.

Data on the number of people under the age of 65 receiving Free Personal Care and expenditure on personal care by local authorities is collected through the Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return . The data is quality assured and sent back to local authorities for additional validation prior to publication.

Information on the number of people aged 65+ receiving Free Personal Care has been collected since 2002; however, in 2019-20 the Quarterly Monitoring Return was extended to cover people aged 18 – 64 following the implementation of Frank’s Law. Information on the expenditure on personal care delivered at home was also requested and the frequency of collection was changed from annually to quarterly.

We will review this collection now that the expanded data has been collected for multiple years. This will involve working with local authorities to determine what is possible to collect; how to improve the consistency and quality of information; whether the resource burden of completing the collection is proportionate; whether alternative sources are available and would be more appropriate; and to assess ongoing data requirements.

The data for 2021-22 is currently out for collection and is due to be returned at the end of June. Therefore, the review work will take place later in 2022, following quality assurance of the 2021-22 data.

Question reference: S6W-09003

Current Status: Withdrawn