Chamber and committees

As I stated in my response to S6W-12237 on 1 December 2022, it is for retailers (in consultation with the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd) to decide how to comply with the obligation to provide a takeback service for scheme articles sold online. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published guidance to support retailers in complying with their obligations: https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/deposit-return-scheme/retailers/online-retailers/

The Scottish Government has engaged with both SEPA and the Royal Environment Health Institute of Scotland regarding the food safety and hygiene aspects of the online takeback element of DRS. Waste materials and fresh food could be carried in the same vehicle as long as there is sufficient separation and a barrier to prevent contamination (both of the waste and the food). We are confident that, with reasonable steps, a retailer will be able to manage this risk.

Furthermore, retailers are permitted to contract third party businesses, such as registered waste carriers, to carry out collections on their behalf.

Further information and guidance on registering as a waste carrier is available from SEPA.

https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/waste-carriers-and-brokers/

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 is taking a range of measures to ensure that young people understand all the available options to them. Skills Development Scotland (SDS) delivers career information, advice and guidance services in all state secondary schools throughout Scotland. The in-school services are delivered face-to-face with at least one dedicated career adviser.

SDS along with the Developing Young Workforce have been working in partnership to facilitate employer engagement within schools especially to senior phase pupils. Both parties work collaboratively to identify and support a young person’s aspirations and create work based learning opportunities to help them prepare for the next step in their journey – whether into employment, training, education or apprenticeships.

Empty drink containers (scheme packaging) are waste and, therefore, subject to regulatory control. Any business that operates a takeback service should ensure that they, or their service provider, are authorised to carry and transport waste and are registered as a waste carrier.

A business only needs to hold one waste carriers licence – there is no need for each employee to register separately unless they are self-employed individuals. Further information and guidance on registering as a waste carrier is available from SEPA.https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/waste-carriers-and-brokers/ .

The Scottish Government does not provide training in this regard.

We are considering measures to address concerns that have been raised by industry, including representatives of the food delivery industry, regarding the obligation to provide a takeback service for scheme articles sold online under Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

As part of this work, the Scottish Government has engaged with a range of stakeholders, including representatives of Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats on 20 October 2022. The same organisations previously met with the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity on 6 October 2022. Representatives of the food delivery industry also attended an online takeback workshop hosted by the Scottish Government on 17 February 2022.

The Scottish Government has committed to undertake further work to quantify Scotland’s offshore wind potential. Once this work has concluded a letter will be sent to the Presiding Officer.

The First Minister will chair the Investor Panel and has appointed Angus Macpherson, CEO, Noble & Co as co-Chair. Ministers and officials have been working closely with Mr Macpherson to identify suitable Panel members with the knowledge, experience and expertise in global capital investment markets and green finance to drive this work forward. The first meeting of the Panel will take place on‎ 12 December.

The Panel’s primary focus will be on attracting capital investment to the physical infrastructure required for a just transition and to provide advice on how we can create the right conditions to attract private investment to support policy objectives.

The next non-domestic property revaluation will take effect on‎ 1 April 2023. The draft valuation roll was published on 30 November and draft valuation notices will be issued by Assessors from then. Final valuation notices in respect of 1 April 2023 will be issued from that date.

We accepted the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates recommendation to move to three yearly revaluations and a one-year tone date to ensure that property values more closely align with current market conditions. The 2023 revaluation will therefore be based on rental values as at 1 April 2022.

The functions of Valuation Appeal Committees are scheduled to transfer to the Scottish Tribunals on 1 April 2023 in the new Local Taxation Chamber. The Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020 provides the framework for a two-stage non-domestic rating appeals system which is also scheduled for introduction on 1 April 2023. Subordinate legislation covering the detail of the changes to appeals process is due to be laid before the Parliament in December.

These changes will deliver greater transparency and fairness in the non-domestic rates system.

The consultation has been published today and is be available on the Scottish Government’s Consultation Hub, Citizen Space ( https://consult.gov.scot/college-policy/trade-union-nominees/ ). It builds on the work of The Good College Governance Task Group, which made a set of recommendations to improve college governance in Scotland. One of these recommendations was to add trade union nominees to the boards of college institutions and the consultation will seek views of a set of proposals to implement this. This work marks the beginning of a wider programme of improvements in governance across the tertiary education and skills sector. The closing date is‎ 27 January 2023.

As part of the development of our new Strategic Framework for biodiversity we have recently consulted on a new Biodiversity Strategy where we set out our high level vision to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and reverse declines by 2045. Consultation responses are being analysed and a draft of the strategy will be published in December 2022. We identified outcomes that we wish to see across a range of different land- and sea-scapes, including our woodlands and forestry, recognising the importance of native woodland cover and woodland ecosystem health to sustaining our rich biodiversity.  

We know that we need to enable large scale regeneration through reductions in herbivore impacts, the removal of invasive non-native species and new native woodland planting. The second part of our Strategic Framework will be the underpinning fluid, dynamic delivery plans, where we will set out the actions we need to take to deliver the outcomes we want to see as set out in the Strategy. Part of this work will involve looking closely at targets for restoration and regeneration of nature, including our annual native woodland creation target, seeking advice and views from key stakeholders and our Programme Advisory Group, which is made up of expert scientific advisers.  

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.