Chamber and committees

We are continuing to engage with Historic Environment Scotland to consider the particular needs of Scotland’s traditionally constructed homes, protected, and historic buildings in taking forward our commitments to decarbonise.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving energy efficiency and decarbonising heating systems in Scotland’s buildings to support improvements in fuel poverty and to help meet our climate target to reach net zero by 2045.

In April, the Acting Minister for Climate Action made a statement to Parliament that set out the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill later this session, and that it would be accompanied by the introduction of a minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES) in the private rented sector (PRS).

We have now launched a consultation on proposed MEES regulations to be introduced in the domestic PRS. This will be accompanied by direct stakeholder engagement and workshops. Our proposals include a range of exemptions to accommodate individual circumstances which will provide flexibility for properties such as traditional and listed buildings.

We value the input from Historic Environment Scotland on this topic, and are committed to continuing to work closely with them to shape our proposals on MEES and any future proposals on decarbonising heating systems. We understand that certain buildings need particular solutions and HES will provide key expertise to ensure the best outcome for traditional and listed buildings and the people who live and use them.

We discuss the Scottish Government’s commitment to improving energy efficiency and decarbonising heating systems in Scotland’s buildings with a range of stakeholders on a regular basis to support improvements in fuel poverty and to help meet our climate target to reach net zero by 2045.

As the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing I will also meet with stakeholders on the issue in my new capacity in the coming months. Additionally, officials have, so far, met with the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance, Sustainable Scotland Network, Scottish Land and Estates, UK Finance, and the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish Governments on the proposals. We will use the feedback we gain throughout written and verbal engagement to develop regulations that are fair, proportionate and achievable across the PRS housing stock.

In April, Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, former Minister for Climate Action, made a statement to Parliament that set out the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill later this session, and that it would be accompanied by the introduction of a minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES) in the private rented sector (PRS).

We have since launched our consultation on proposed MEES regulations for the domestic PRS to which all stakeholders are encouraged to respond. We recognise the individual challenges that some properties, particularly traditionally built homes and listed buildings, may face in meeting the standard and this is reflected in the inclusion of exemptions in our proposals. These will provide flexibility to individual circumstances where needed, such as preserving special characteristics of traditional buildings.

Local authorities are responsible for the provision and accessibility of household waste and recycling services, including civic amenity sites. However, the Scottish Government recognises the particular challenges faced by rural communities and continues to work with COSLA, SEPA and other partners to support fair and practical solutions.

We are making one of the biggest investments in a generation to modernise recycling in Scotland through the £70m Recycling Improvement Fund for local authorities. Over £8.8 million has been allocated to rural communities across all local authorities, including funding for civic amenity sites.

As part of our wider national strategy to tackle flytipping, we are also exploring ways to improve access to legitimate disposal routes and considering how best to support consistency and share good practice.

As set out in the Circular Economy & Waste Route Map and as enabled by the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024, we are reviewing the Household Recycling Charter's supporting Code of Practice. The Code of Practice will be put on a statutory basis to deliver better and more consistent recycling services across all areas of Scotland, including rural areas. This new statutory Code will provide clear guidance for both householders and waste practitioners, ensuring the right choices are the easiest options.

Working closely with local authorities is integral to this review, as their input ensures the practicality and effectiveness of the new Code across diverse communities. Co-design will help address the diversity of needs and local circumstances across Scotland.

The Scottish Government uses a variety of systems for different purposes. One of these is Scotland’s Land Information Service, created and maintained by Registers of Scotland, which provides online access to information on land and property in Scotland for both public and business users. Enhancements since the service first launched have included access to a Crofting Register layer, an Aerial photography map layer, the Sasines Register indicative ownership layer, the Books of Council & Session, the Register of Judgements, the Register of Inhibitions and National Library Scotland’s Historic Maps

The Scottish Assessors maintain the Council Tax Valuation List and the Valuation Roll which sets out the rateable value of non-domestic land and heritages unless they are statutorily exempt. As set out in the recent Scottish Budget and Scotland’s Tax Strategy: Building on our Tax Principles, we are taking forward work with the Scottish Land Commission which includes exploration of opportunities for improved data collection, data analysis and data publication to better inform decision making regarding tax and land.

Information relating to agricultural subsidies is published by Defra on behalf of the Scottish Government and can be accessed here: https://cap-payments.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening consistent enforcement of flytipping across Scotland. We continue to engage with local authorities and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to understand barriers and share good practice. In 2023, we published an independent review of enforcement powers for litter and flytipping, which made a series of recommendations to improve coordination and effectiveness.

SEPA is piloting partnership models with councils and Police Scotland to address serious incidents. Since 2016, SEPA has issued 132 monetary penalties, totalling over £109,900, including recent Variable Monetary Penalties of more than £2,600 for repeat offenders.

The Scottish Government has assessed the wider costs of fly-tipping in Scotland through the Litter and Flytipping: Scale and Cost report, published in 2023. This estimated that the overall direct cost of litter and flytipping in Scotland was £81.2m. Direct costs to public and private bodies, excluding local councils, was estimated to be £20.5m. The research also contains the cost broken down by a number of sectors, including nature-based attractions (including farmland), food and retail/commercial. Insufficient information was received to assess the costs of flytipping for these sectors.

We recognise the financial pressure on private landowners. In 2023-24, the Private Landowners Grant Fund provided targeted support to prevent fly-tipping, including measures such as fencing, signage and surveillance. This extended into 2024-25 to also cover clean-up activities. We continue to explore other ways to support landowners, including involvement in multi-agency enforcement partnerships and clarification of responsibilities under Section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended by the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024.

Using the data published from the ‘Annual Report on Procurement Activity in Scotland’ the following table provides spend from the last available five years, broken down by supplier location and size. These figures are derived from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub - Scottish Government’s spend analytics shared service.

Public Procurement Spend : Supplier Location and Supplier Size Spend

The Scottish Government recognises the need to continue to address flytipping from commercial sources and has been consistently working with delivery partners under the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy to do so. For example, through SEPA's partnership enforcement activity and digital disruption online actions. Ongoing measures by SEPA to further strengthen how they regulate waste activities will also have an impact.

These activities, alongside cross-agency engagement including through the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce (SOCT) Environmental Waste Crime Working Group and Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), are helping to build collective understanding and partnership working across the sector.

The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy is a six year plan. According to Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Local Environmental Auditing Monitoring System (LEAMS) data, 92.7% of audited street sites met acceptable litter standards in the most recent survey, a 1.7 percentage point increase from the previous year. LEAMS data by local authority area is available on KSB’s website.

As noted in the response to S6W-38714 on 24 June 2025, flytipping data is held at local authority level.

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 does not hold consolidated national data on the number of flytipping reports or enforcement outcomes. Between 2020 and its closure in March 2023, fewer than 900 reports were received annually via the Dumb Dumpers platform. In comparison, the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy’s Flytipping Baseline Report, published in October 2024, sets out that in 2022–23 between 63,378 and 64,486 flytipping incidents were reported directly to local authority systems, depending on the data source.

Data on the proportion of incidents resulting in enforcement action is not held centrally, as this is a matter for local authorities and other enforcement bodies. Improving national consistency in reporting and enforcement data remains a priority under the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024.