Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6F-02532 on 16 November 2023. Which can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 16/11/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

Our international work provides us with significant opportunities to collaborate with like-minded partners, to share best practice, to learn from others and to help the Scottish Government develop and deliver effective policy at home. We have built links with international partners to discuss domestic interventions to tackle a wide range of issues, including demographic challenges and the conservation of biodiversity. In June last year, for example, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Flemish Government to strengthen cooperation in a wide range of policy areas to support future collaboration and exchange best practice.

We will continue to engage with a variety of international partners on a range of policy areas, building on relationships where we already have strong links, such as in Europe and our near neighbourhood.

Since the publication of Scotland’s Arctic policy framework in 2019, the Scottish Government has helped establish Scotland as a valuable contributor to, and host of, Arctic dialogue. Edinburgh will be hosting Arctic Science Summit Week in March 2024 and the Scottish Government will continue to engage with Arctic partners to secure future opportunities for collaboration to enable delivery of the framework.

Since 2019 Scottish Government has provided £750k to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). This funding was transferred on 1 December 2023 in response to UNRWA’s flash appeal for those caught up in the conflict between Hamas and Israel. This funding was a one-off contribution in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We have no plans for further contributions at this point in time.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25418 on 22 February 2024, applicants are not required to submit any supporting fire safety documentation when seeking consent for a development under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

There is also no legal requirement for any application documents to be published by the Scottish Government however we endeavour to publish section 36 application documents, where possible, at https://www.energyconsents.scot .

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 .

To date, 37 projects from 25 local authorities have been approved for funding through the Recycling Improvement Fund (RIF) and the Fund’s Small Grant Scheme.

A list of local authorities and projects approved through the RIF is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/recycling-improvement-fund .

A list of local authorities and projects who have been approved for funding through the RIF Small Grant Scheme is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/recycling-improvement-fund-small-grant-scheme .

Zero Waste Scotland is in regular contact with local authorities to support new applications.

NSA data is retained for the duration of a pupil’s interaction with the school system, in order to ensure that school and local authority based longitudinal analysis of individuals’ assessment history is supported.

When learners leave the Scottish school system, their personal data will be retained for a maximum of nine months and then deleted. After that nine months, pupils’ assessments are retained in anonymised format. This allows longitudinal analysis at school level, beyond the point where a child or young person is attending school.

In my letter of 18 January 2024 to the Convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee (see at this link Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity (parliament.scot) ), I confirmed that Scottish Government officials regularly meet with the Office for the Internal Market (OIM) to discuss a range of issues related to its functions, including horizon scanning of potential legislation across the UK. These discussions are open dialogues where either party can raise any issue for discussion. They can involve high level intelligence sharing, as well as more detailed discussions of specific policy areas.

To date, there has not been a specific discussion on the proposed provisions of the Scottish Circular Economy Bill as part of this engagement. Wider circular economy issues such as deposit return schemes and single-use plastics policies across UK nations have been discussed.

Clean Air Day (CAD) is an important opportunity to raise awareness of the impacts of poor air quality on human health and the environment and the actions to address it. CAD 2023 saw a variety of events taking place across the country such as poster competitions for schools, presentations about air quality, health walks, fuel efficient driving, green travel surveys to vehicle idling campaigns, alongside activity on social media platforms.

The Scottish Government supported the delivery of CAD 2023 in Scotland through funding to Environmental Protection Scotland and Global Action Plan. SEPA and the Scottish Government also run a range of air quality activities throughout the year.

The Scottish Government did not provide funding to The Active Learning Centre (ALC) in 2019 or in any year since. The last International Development Fund (IDF) funding to ALC was for a 3-year project between 2008 and 2011, for a project called Women’s rights and advocacy: Capacity building to support the implementation of gender equality.