Chamber and committees

Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended by the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, requires any person who manages controlled waste to apply the Waste Hierarchy set out in Article 4(1) of Directive 2009/98/EC (the “Waste Framework Directive”) and to take reasonable steps to increase the quantity and quality of recyclable materials, with the desired outcome being closed-loop recycling.

The scheme administrator for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will therefore have to ensure glass is sorted and processed in a way that maintains the recyclate in a high-value state.

All projects, including the A96 Programme, are subject to detailed review and assessment work to ensure we deliver the right schemes and keep impacts on the environment to the absolute minimum. The decision to commit to a review forms part of a wide range of transport commitments set out in the cooperation agreement with the Scottish Green Party.

The commitment to investing at least £500m over the life of this Parliament to create a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is significant. This will enable transformational change which will enable the building of universal, holistic support services available in communities across Scotland giving families access to help when and where they need it, and help Scotland #keepthepromise.

We will work closely with The Promise Scotland and partners across local government, social justice, health, the third sector, and with children and families to design and deliver the Fund. Further details will be provided in due course.

The relevant parties are those who opted in and participated in the appeal inquiry as set out in Appendix 1 of the reporter’s report from 22 December 2016. That is the Park of Keir Partnership as appellant, Stirling Council as planning authority, Dunblane and Bridge of Allan Community Councils, Arnbathie Developments Ltd, and Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion. This is in keeping with the Planning Appeals Regulations (2013).

We expect businesses to take appropriate action to minimise the risk of transmission (to other employees and to customers) where a member of staff tests positive. Employers should also take appropriate steps and work with Test & Protect to identify any potential close contacts. We expect employers to support staff to self-isolate for the full period required, acknowledging that working from home may be an option.

The Scottish Government, along with public, private and third sector partners and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) issued a joint statement outlining fair work expectations in July to support the transition out of lockdown. Among its provisions were that no worker should be financially penalised for following medical advice, that any absence relating to COVID-19 should not affect future sick pay entitlement or other entitlements like holiday or accrued time, and that any absence related to COVID-19 should not result in formal attendance related warnings or be accumulated with non-COVID related absences in future absence management figures.

The Scottish Government is aware of the issues facing city centre retail and related sectors as a result of the pandemic. The City Centre Recovery Task Force has engaged with external stakeholders, including those from the retail sector, to inform its recommendations. The work of the City Centre Recovery Task Force has been taken forward in tandem with development of a Retail Strategy, which focuses on the future needs of the retail sector in Scotland.

We will provide more information on all of our plans for action to help our city centres recover when we publish the recommendations of the Task Force this autumn.

We are conducting analysis to consider the distributional impacts of decarbonising our homes and buildings in response to policy developments. We have commissioned analysis using the National Household Model and this has helped us consider the impact on fuel poor households. We will publish details of this modelling exercise by the end of the year.

We have also commissioned research to better understand the financial implications of adopting a range of zero emissions heating technologies across a number of common housing archetypes, and the extent to which fuel costs can be reduced by the installation of storage and microgeneration technologies. This work is expected to be published in early 2022. Further work will be commissioned as the policy and regulatory environment evolves.

The proposal in the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy, published by the Scottish Government for consultation in February 2021, to establish a Green Heat Finance Task Force has been widely welcomed by stakeholders. This Taskforce, which will be established by the end of 2021, will forge a new partnership approach between the Scottish public sector, heat decarbonisation experts and the financial sector to explore potential new and value for money innovative financing mechanisms for both at-scale and individual level investment in zero emissions heat. The Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust will provide co-secretariat support for the independently chaired Taskforce. Membership and Terms of Reference for the Taskforce will be published by the end of 2021.

As highlighted in the 2021-22 Programme for Government, at least £320 million or 10% of the total transport budget will be spent on active travel by 2024-25.

274 responses were received to the consultation on the Inverness Airport draft master plan. While full consideration of the points and views was made in each response, o f the 209 responses opposed to the proposals, 183 were identical automatically generated e-mails that made the same views known.