Chamber and committees

As confirmed in the answer to S7W-00736 on 16 June 2026, the Scottish Government has not withdrawn from the Wastewater Analysis for Narcotics Detection (WAND) programme.

The latest WAND programme report published by the Home Office – covering a period when Scottish sites were included – did not provide a national estimate of drug consumption for Scotland. The report is available here - Wastewater analysis - estimating drug consumption.

Public Health Scotland do publish statistics relating to drug prevalence in Scotland, the last publication was in March 2026 - Estimated prevalence of opioid dependence in Scotland.

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.

The Scottish Government has not withdrawn from the Wastewater Analysis for Narcotics Detection (WAND) programme. This was a fully Home Office-funded programme, to which the Scottish Government has not contributed funding. The Home Office decided in late 2025 to withdraw funding for the Scottish sites due to budget constraints.

As confirmed in the answer to S7W-00736 on 16 June 226, the Scottish Government has not withdrawn from the Wastewater Analysis for Narcotics Detection (WAND) programme. This was a fully Home Office-funded programme, to which the Scottish Government has not contributed funding. The Home Office decided in late 2025 to withdraw funding for the Scottish sites due to budget constraints.

The Scottish Government was approached about contributing funding to reinstate the Scottish sites at this time. WAND was primarily useful for being able to provide estimates of drug consumption in the tested area. The conclusion reached by both the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland was that the specific added value of wastewater analysis remained uncertain when compared with the existing, extensive surveillance system, coordinated via RADAR. On this basis, the Scottish Government determined that it would not be an effective use of limited budget to contribute to the programme.

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.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the need to tackle drug supply and organised crime groups. Police Scotland works with agencies in Scotland, the UK and internationally to take illegal substances, including synthetic opioids, off Scotland’s streets, and to dismantle the groups responsible and hold them to account. They continue to have notable success with the number of senior organised crime group members in prison indicative of operational success.

Our Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan, Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery aims to prevent harm from alcohol and drugs, promote recovery and save lives. Grounded in human rights, the Plan sets out a clear long term direction for addressing alcohol and drug harms through a public health, evidence informed approach. The Plan builds on the progress made throughout the National Mission, and sets out a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, whilst continuing to support vital harm reduction measures and improving treatment and care pathways to support long term recovery.

In light of the changing drug trends and emerging threats, the Plan commits to strengthening surveillance and early response measures, and expanding the approach of what has been achieved through the Medication Assisted Treatment standards (currently primarily for opioid use) to cover all substances including alcohol.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) sets recording requirements for sewage treatment works in accordance with its published technical guidance wat-g-065_permit_guide_municipal_sewage_treatment-_works.docx.

The recording and reporting requirements are included in authorisations on the basis of environmental risk, such as size of wastewater treatment works and proximity to sensitive receptors e.g. designated Bathing Waters.

The Urban Wastewater Treatment Regulations (Scotland) 1994 sets out the nature of the sampling and the frequency for qualifying works. The results of this sampling is published - https://www.gov.scot/publications/situation-compliance-report-disposal-urban-wastewater-sludge-scotland-2022/.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) carries out an annual programme of sewer network and wastewater site compliance assessment, proactively targeting higher risk sites and also maintaining a rolling programme of inspections across all authorised sites, to determine operator compliance, including sampling of sites and the environment.

SEPA also requires these operators to provide data returns and report incidents. Recorded data and site operations are assessed during SEPA inspections. In addition to compliance inspections, SEPA responds to Scottish Water pollution notifications and public reporting of pollution incidents.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), I have asked them to respond. Their replies are as follows:

Scottish Water will need time to review and respond to the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) report once it is issued.

SEPA has publicly offered to meet the WASP group to discuss the evidence it has prepared in its draft Report and the work already under way to monitor and improve Scotland’s water environment further through River Basin Management Planning.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water has responded to requests for data from Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) under a number or FOI/EIR requests. Where data was available, Scottish Water has made efforts to provide this, as requested. Where data is not held by Scottish Water, as per the request, it has not been able to provide it - and Scottish Water has provided explanations. This is being tested by the Scottish Information Commissioner under appeal from WASP, reflecting the appropriate process in these circumstances.

This would be an operational matter for Scottish Water.

Any discharge from a wastewater asset is covered by the requirements of authorisations issued under the Environmental Authorisation (Scotland) Regulations 2018. In the event of a potential non-compliance identified by the appropriate regulator, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), this would be investigated by Scottish Water and action taken as appropriate.

The Scottish Government has not received any reports of illegal sewage spills identified by Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP).

Any discharge from a wastewater asset is covered by the requirements of authorisations issued under the Environmental Authorisation (Scotland) Regulations 2018. In the event of a potential non-compliance identified by the appropriate regulator, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), this would be investigated by Scottish Water and action taken as appropriate.