Chamber and committees

Public support for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is high.

Zero Waste Scotland’s consumer research indicates that 71% of the public support the introduction of DRS.

Kerbside collection remains important since it enables people to recycle non-scheme items. Additionally, DRS will help local authority waste management services to free up capacity to support wider collection services and improve recycling rates on other materials.

Furthermore, DRS will significantly increase the quantity and quality of glass recyclate, creating an aggregated and high-quality feedstock for reprocessing.

We do not believe an enhanced kerbside scheme could deliver the level or rate of improvement that we will see through DRS. Packaging recycling rates have stalled, including for glass, and the current producer responsibility system is not driving improvement.

DRS should deliver an 85% collection rate for glass by the second full year of operation at the latest.

Since the start of this parliamentary session the Scottish Government has written to the UK Government on three separate occasions regarding a number of different issues with the Universal Credit system. The Scottish Government is very concerned that since the DWP reintroduced conditionality, including sanctions, the number of hardship payments have increased substantially. The Scottish Government will continue to call on the UK Government to make Universal Credit a system that works for people and not against them.

The model used to inform that BRIA deals with local authorities as a collective group and it is therefore not possible to provide detailed calculations for individual local authority costs and benefits in relation to recycling. You can view the full report here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

Landfill tax is considered a ‘transfer payment’ under HM Treasury guidance and is therefore not included in BRIA calculations.

The Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office run a range of Fellowship schemes for early career researchers to build capacity for health research in Scotland. These schemes are open to researchers in all fields including cardiovascular research. Applications are subject to peer review with funding recommendations made by independent panels.

Clinical Academic Training Fellowship Scheme to enable early career researchers to undertake a PhD.

Clinical Academic Fellowships – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

NES/CSO Postdoctoral Clinical Lectureships to enable medics with a PhD to have 50% research time while completing training.

Joint NES/CSO Postdoctoral Clinical Lectureships – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Early Postdoctoral Fellowship providing 3 years of funding for early career researchers to develop their academic career.

Early Postdoctoral Fellowship – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Researchers at the British Heart Foundation's Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre are eligible for these awards.

As a private business, the remuneration of Circularity Scotland Ltd staff is not shared with the Scottish Government, nor is it subject to Ministerial approval.

The most up to date information available regarding the impact of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme on retailers, including information about the use of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) can be found in the amended Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), which was published on 22 December 2021 and can be downloaded from the Scottish Government’s website here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

The Scottish Government routinely publishes a range of labour market statistics and analysis to monitor changes in our labour market. These can be accessed at the following link: Labour market statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

No evaluation of the UK Government’s proposed reduction in the time offered to unemployed social security recipients to seek work has been carried out by the Scottish Government. However, this recent announcement from the UK Government is yet another example of a system which doesn’t work well enough to help our most vulnerable people, in a time when support is most needed. Universal Credit, which is the responsibility of the UK Government, is too often failing the people it is designed to support and driving more people into poverty.

Circularity Scotland Ltd, the industry-led Scheme Administrator for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), is responsible for determining the number and location of counting and sorting centres and the associated staffing requirements.

Under the producer responsibility principle, the costs of these centres will be borne by industry.

The number of reverse vending machines (RVMs) was based on analysis of data that identified retail locations in Scotland, the store type and the sales area. This estimated that there would be approximately 3,021 automatic return points using RVMs and 14,386 manual return points.

The decision on whether to install a RVM will be for individual retailers to make.

As noted in the answer to S6W-06239, we do not hold detailed information centrally on those local approaches and so cannot provide the breakdown as requested. However, the latest information we have from councils indicates that almost 280,000 devices have been, or are in the process of being, rolled out to learners across Scotland.