Chamber and committees

Work commenced in December 2022 to develop alternative metrics for Scotland’s offshore wind potential and the outcome of this work will be published in due course.

Zero Waste Scotland is not measuring or assessing textiles reuse systematically at a national level.

The Scottish Government established the time-limited Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce, in partnership with industry, to: agree a vision for a zero-emission bus sector in Scotland; co-design the solutions for ending the bus sector’s contribution to climate change and; set out a collaborative pathway for achieving zero-emissions. The Taskforce met six times between November 2020 and August 2022, and delivered its remit.

All meeting papers and minutes of the taskforce are published at https://www.cpt-uk.org/news/bus-decarbonisation-taskforce/

The Pathway to Zero Emission Buses can be found at the same web address, as can the additional resources that the Taskforce produced, including:

• The Pathway to Zero Emission Buses
• A Bus Finance and Ideas Pack
• A guide for fleet operators about connections to the electricity grid,
• A guide for fleet operators about electric vehicle batteries and how to maximise their performance
• A research report about the impact of electric buses on the Scottish second-hand bus market
• Three case studies of effective bus decarbonisation

Following the success of the first iteration of the Taskforce, industry are now considering reconvening the group and will take responsibility for any future meetings. The Scottish Government stands ready to support this very positive development as and when requested to do so.

The Scottish Government supports the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) with annual funding of £665,000. SLIC provides leadership and advice to Scottish Ministers, local authorities, and the wider libraries sector.

This includes £450,000 for the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF) and is on top of the Scottish Government’s general revenue funding to local authorities. PLIF, which has been awarded annually since 2006, is administered by SLIC on behalf of the Scottish Government, and supports creative, sustainable and innovative public library projects throughout Scotland.

Annual waste data will be submitted to SEPA who will also undertake verification inspections. It is our intention to ensure that DRS packaging data is identified in our waste data reporting.

As of Sunday 30 April 2023, there had been a total of 62,176,512 journeys made under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme.

The Scottish Government recognises the findings that have been highlighted within the Disability Price Tag 2023 report, that disabled people have been disproportionately impacted by the current cost-of-living crisis.

One of the First Minister’s first acts upon taking office was to increase the budget for our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £30 million for 2023-24 to ensure support is available to households who would otherwise be at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. Assistance is provided on the basis of a holistic assessment of individuals’ circumstances, which can include increased energy usage arising from the need to run essential medical devices.

The Scottish Government provide a range of disability benefits to help disabled people and those with long-term conditions. These benefits provide financial support to disabled people to mitigate the additional costs of living with a disability or health condition. In recognition of the cost crisis, all Scottish Government social security benefits were increased by 10.1% in April, except for Scottish Child Payment, which was uprated early, with an investment of around £430 million. This uprating is in line with inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index.

The timing of each legislative stage will be for the Scottish Parliament to decide, once the Circular Economy Bill has been introduced.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children. Understanding the need from children and families for breakfast provision and planning how to respond to that forms part of several civil servant roles within the Directorate for Children and Families. Civil servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of the work at any time. For example, Directorate officials routinely engage with stakeholders, such as providers and partners in school age childcare early adopter communities, to discuss this policy.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Circularity Scotland is a not-for-profit private company established on behalf of the industry to deliver the legal responsibilities of drinks producers under Scotland's deposit return scheme regulations. Requests for information relating to its sites should be directed to them.