- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00674 by Michael Matheson on 23 July 2021, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding whether it has carried out a feasibility study on building a new plastic recycling plant, whether as part of its deposit return scheme or otherwise, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its response.
Answer
A feasibility study has not been carried out on building a new plastic recycling plant. As part of the assessment identified in the answer to S6W-00674, Zero Waste Scotland have commissioned work to better understand and forecast the volumes of materials, including plastics, collected for recycling. Once this work has been finalised, we will consider the next steps.
In the meantime, we will continue to work with local authorities and Circularity Scotland Ltd, as scheme administrator of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, to explore options that could unlock investment in plastics reprocessing, such as pooling recyclate and longer contractual periods.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the welfare of animals that have been stolen.
Answer
To date the Scottish Government has made no formal assessment on the possible welfare consequences for animals that have been stolen.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 17 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle pet theft.
Answer
The primary responsibility for the prevention and investigation of theft lies with Police Scotland. The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 stipulates that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland is responsible for the policing of Scotland, and is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly.
The Scottish Government assists Police Scotland by supporting in any legislative requirements they identify as necessary in their efforts to prevent and detect theft. The Microchipping of Dogs (Scotland) Regulations 2016 came into force on 29 January 2016, making it a statutory requirement for all dogs over the age of 8 weeks to be identifiable with an implanted microchip which is registered on a database from which Police and local authority officers can request information on owners.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00671 by Graeme Dey on 7 July 2021, whether it accepts in full the findings of the 2019 report, Non-Exhaust Emissions from Road Traffic.
Answer
The Scottish Government accepts in full the Air Quality Expert Group's (AQEG) conclusions and recommendations in this report. The AQEG report concludes that the most effective approaches for reducing NEE are to reduce the overall volume of traffic, lower speeds on trunk roads and motorways, and promote driving behaviours which reduce braking and high speed cornering.
The Government's new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone', which was published on 15 July 2021, sets out how we intend to address non-exhaust emissions (NEE) from road traffic. Actions include exploring opportunities across traffic management, behaviours and legislation/standards to reduce NEE, and contributing to research into developing a consistent method for measuring NEE.
Other actions in the new air quality strategy, which links closely to the National Transport Strategy, for example further investment in and promotion of active travel and reducing motor vehicle kilometres by 20% by 2030, will also contribute to NEE reductions.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the plastic waste produced by the construction and demolition sector, and what sector-specific action it plans to take to reduce this.
Answer
There were 5,902 tonnes of plastic waste produced from the construction and demolition sector in 2018 in Scotland. Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk)
UK official waste figures for Construction and Demolition show that plastic waste is around 0.05% of the total waste stream. The percentage is similar in Scotland.
Zero Waste Scotland has taken a variety of actions to tackle waste in the construction and demolition sector. In 2020-2021, Zero Waste Scotland undertook a packaging project with national housebuilders to drive down the consumption of packaging waste, including plastics, on site.
In 2020-2021, Zero Waste Scotland also commissioned the development of a methodology to measure the true cost of waste on a construction site. Testing this methodology on a new build housing site, 14% of the waste was identified as plastics.
Zero Waste Scotland provides a range of support and advice to help the Construction and Demolition sector to be more circular Circular Construction | Zero Waste Scotland . In 2021-2022 Zero Waste Scotland will be working with the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) on the development of a national Onsite Best Practice Guide.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01103 by Michael Matheson on 21 July 2021, who the attendees were at the meeting.
Answer
On 2 July 2021 Scottish Government officials met with two representatives of the Society of Independent Brewers to discuss Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). We will consider their views alongside the findings of the Gateway Review into DRS.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of (a) its and (b) each of its agencies' vehicle fleet is comprised of zero-emission vehicles, also broken down by what information it has for other public bodies.
Answer
The Scottish Government hold central records for its own and Crown Office Procurator Fiscals Service fleets. The proportion of zero-emission vehicles currently operated is provided in the following table.
Organisation | Zero-emission vehicles (%) |
Scottish Government (including Transport Scotland) | 13 |
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service | 0 |
The Scottish Government has committed to decarbonising public sector fleet vehicles and has supported the uptake of ultra-low and zero emission vehicles, through initiatives such as the Switched on Fleets programme. No up-to-date information on the public sector fleet is held centrally, but, according to the most recent information available from 2020 over 10% of the cars in the Scottish public sector fleet were ultra-low or zero emission at that time.
Significant additional investment has continued to be made in decarbonising the public sector fleet since 2020 but will not be reflected in these figures.
To help the public sector lead from the front, since 2014 , we’ve invested over £47 million in 3,463 low and zero emission vehicles across the public sector fleet. We will continue to work with public bodies to achieve the decarbonisation of all public fleets in Scotland, beginning by phasing out the need for new petrol and diesel light vehicles by 2025 and the need for all types of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.
In addition, we have supported trials of zero emission specialist Heavy Goods Vehicles, such as Dundee’s Council’s electric zero emission Refuse Collection Vehicles, alongside other pioneering work with Scottish Enterprise to enable the development and future procurement of a ground breaking prototype zero emission fire engine.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00670 by Michael Matheson on 23 July 2021, whether it will provide an update on progress with the electronic waste tracking system, and when it anticipates this will be ready for implementation.
Answer
As set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan, we will take steps to improve waste data by working with the UK Government, other devolved governments, and agencies such as SEPA, to develop and implement the electronic waste tracking system. This step change in the quality and timeliness of waste data will support decision-making and underpin the key building blocks required to reduce emissions and drive delivery on existing waste and recycling targets.
A joint consultation is being planned for this summer on behalf of all four nations of the UK. This consultation will seek views on how and when mandatory digital waste tracking should be implemented.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what projects were funded through the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund in 2020-21, broken down by local authority.
Answer
Full details of the projects funded through the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund in 2020-21 can be found on the VisitScotland website.
Rural Development Fund - Funding | VisitScotland.org .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 12 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of recent reports regarding an increase in dog theft.
Answer
The Scottish Government is dismayed by the reported rise in the theft of dogs and would encourage dog owners to report any concerns to Police Scotland, be extremely vigilant, ensure dogs are microchipped, and also report the loss/theft to the microchip database operators to ensure that if anyone attempts to re-register the microchip number, the rightful owner will be informed.
The primary responsibility for the prevention and investigation of theft lies with Police Scotland and the Chief Constable.
The Scottish Government assists Police Scotland by supporting in any legislative requirements they identify as necessary in their efforts to prevent and detect theft. The Microchipping of Dogs (Scotland) Regulations 2016 came into force on 29 January 2016, making it a statutory requirement for all dogs over the age of 8 weeks to be identifiable with an implanted microchip which is registered on a database from which Police and local authority officers can request information on owners.
