Chamber and committees

We are in discussion with the UK Government and Devolved Administrations on what action is required for the UK to meet the pledge.

Within Scotland, methane is emitted from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources; agricultural activities, landfills and oil and gas systems. Laid out below are the actions we are currently taking to reduce methane emissions. However, the next Climate Change Plan will include new policies on reducing all greenhouse gas emissions.

The bulk of methane emissions come from agricultural production, and action is being taken to bring these down. Feed additives have the potential to reduce methane emissions from dairy cattle and sheep and we are continuing to work with the industry. The First Minister announced at COP26 more than £100m investment by Royal DSM in Scotland , focused on reducing methane emissions from farming while Scottish Development International (SDI) has also supported the investment of DSM Nutrition in Scotland for the manufacture of its EU-approved methane-reducing food additive. Alongside the UK Government, Welsh Government and NI Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs we have just completed a call for evidence on the potential role of methane supressing livestock feed products, which will allow us to explore further opportunities for methane reduction in this area.

Currently the majority of Waste Management sector greenhouse gas emissions come from the degradation, with time, of biodegradable waste in landfill sites, which produces methane. Although landfill greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 72% from 2005 to 2020 (in line with a 63% reduction in the tonnage of waste landfilled), we know we need to go further to decrease this more. The actions set out in the recent Waste Route Map are therefore key to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. These include current actions like the ban on biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill by 2025, expansion of the existing landfill gas capture programme from 2023; and proposed new actions, including the development of a Residual Waste Plan to ensure the best environmental outcome for materials and set strategic direction for management of residual waste to 2045.

Offshore oil and gas is reserved to the UK Government, meaning reducing methane emissions in that area sits with them. As regards onshore oil and gas refining, large industrial, gas and petrochemical sites have a requirement in their Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permits for regular Leak Detection and Repair programmes for fugitive gases (which would include methane, where appropriate). Reviews of methane emissions from National Grid sites regulated by SEPA under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 are undertaken with the Operator.

We report every six months to Parliament on the delivery of major capital projects and programmes and publish an annual report on the progress of our five-year Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) which outlines the progress made in relation to the IIP’s three key themes. The annual progress report also outlines key delivery achievements as well as information relating to major capital projects and their associated climate change targets, strategic outcomes and the contribution they have made to economic development. Our six-monthly programme update also includes the contribution key major infrastructure programmes are making to economic development. Projects are evaluated in line with The Green Book guidance which looks across five defined cases relating to Strategic, Economic, Commercial, Financial and Management rather than by way of a singular return on investment measure.

The six-monthly major capital project and programme updates and the annual IIP progress report can be found at the Scottish Government website by way of the following link Infrastructure Investment Plan (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government received representations regarding Reverse Vending Machine relief from the Scottish Retail Consortium and a supermarket retailer.

Data on school support staff are collected as part of the annual school staff census.

National Statistics on selected categories of school support staff (pupil support assistants, home-school link workers, behaviour support staff, educational psychologists, school nurses and library staff) can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

Management information (which are not subject to the same quality assurance procedures by Scottish Government statisticians as Official Statistics) for all other support staff roles for which data is collected centrally can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-management-information/

Statistics for all categories of support staff prior to 2017 are available as part of the Teacher Census Supplementary Data: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

The processing and quality assurance of the statistics on school support staff from 2017 onwards has been brought into line with procedures for National Statistics on pupils and teachers. This means that statistics from 2017 onwards are not directly comparable with the data on support staff from previous years.

The obligation to provide a takeback service for scheme articles sold online under Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is structured so that retailers can work together to put in place a third-party solution to collect containers; this should minimise the number of additional journeys required.

We are aware that some in industry have been raising concerns on this specific point; this is one factor we are considering as we examine opportunities to streamline the way in which retailers discharge this obligation, as set out in the answer to S6W-12236 on 1 December 2022.

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

Decisions on how the £5 million of loss and damage funding will be allocated are yet to be taken. Decisions will be made on the recommendation of needs assessments and undertaken in consultation with stakeholders and communities. These funds are in addition to the £2 million we announced last year, of which £1.7 million is already on the ground. Funds to date have been allocated through participatory mechanisms with those communities most impacted as well as to funding research on needs assessments and case studies.

Decisions on how we will approach monitoring and judge the efficacy of the recently announced £5 million funding to loss and damage are yet to be taken. Decisions will be undertaken in consultation with stakeholders and communities. In line with the £2 million announced last year that is already being evaluated, we will ensure robust monitoring and evaluation is built in throughout the programme design.

Housing statistics on new housebuilding and affordable housing supply are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/.

The next set of quarterly housing statistics are expected to be published in January 2023.

The Scottish Government received a copy of the letter on the evening of 22 November 2022.

We are taking the capacity issues at Dargavel Primary School very seriously, and we continue to be in close contact with Renfrewshire Council.

On 30 November, I met with Dargavel Primary Parent Council, Neil Bibby MSP and Natalie Don MSP, and had a constructive discussion about this important matter. Officials will remain in close contact with the Council on this matter going forward.