Chamber and committees

The three R100 contracts have a total value of £648.7 million. By the end of March 2023, £116.4 million had been spent, which is line with our expectations at this stage of contract delivery. The remainder of the funding will be utilised in the period to March 2028 when the North contract will formally be completed.

The R100 programme also encompasses the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme which had issued almost £6m in voucher funding by 31 March 2023. As the R100 SBVS is demand led it is not yet known what the cost of delivery will be upon completion.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with representatives of the Scotch whisky industry to discuss Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). The Scotch Whisky Association is a member of the DRS System Wide Assurance Group which meets often to monitor the progress of the scheme’s implementation.

Most recently, on 20 April this year, the First Minister and the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy, and Biodiversity, met with industry leaders, including representatives from the Scotch Whisky Association and other producers and retailers to discuss DRS and how all parties can work together to ensure a successful launch on 1 March 2024.

Throughout the development of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), all relevant business sectors, including glass producers, were consulted. The Scottish Government continues to engage with industry to ensure that our scheme launches successfully on 1 March 2024.

Most recently, on 5 April 2023 the Director of the Environment and Forestry Directorate replied to a letter from British Glass which restated the Government’s position that glass will be included in Scotland’s DRS.

This information is publicly available through the SEPA Waste Discover Data Tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/ .

Please note, the impact of a cyber attack means there are data gaps covering 2019 and 2020.

Last year the Scottish Government consulted on proposals for a National Litter and Flytipping Strategy. The consultation included proposals to raise the value of fixed penalty notices, carry out a review of flytipping enforcement, support private landowners to deter and tackle flytipping, and work with a wide range of stakeholders to improve consistency of data collection.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling flytipping and will publish a finalised National Litter and Flytipping Strategy later this year. The strategy will set how we plan to work with partners to develop more effective flytipping prevention and enforcement measures.

Apprenticeships are a vital resource for employers to invest in their workforce and for people to develop their skills. Investing in skills across people’s lifetimes is critical to our future productivity and success, underlining our commitment to a skilled workforce set out within the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Our priority is for high quality apprenticeships that provide sustainable jobs and careers, supporting our transition to net zero.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have issued contract awards to support up to 25,500 new Modern Apprenticeship starts in 2023/24. This builds upon the 25,000 Modern Apprenticeship starts which Ministers asked SDS to deliver in 2022/23. SDS previously issued contracts in March for over 39,000 Modern Apprentices in training for 2023/24, supporting businesses and individuals across Scotland.

Protecting victims and the public from harm is the Scottish Government’s absolute priority.

Prison will remain a necessary option, particularly for those who pose a risk of serious harm, in removing the individual from the community and reducing the likelihood of further offending for the duration of their sentence. As reflected in our National Strategy for Community Justice, there is also clear evidence that community-based sentences can be more effective in reducing reoffending and assisting with rehabilitation than short term custodial sentences, while protecting the public and robustly managing risk.

Overall, taking an individualised approach is therefore critical. Sentencing decisions in each individual case are, of course, a matter for the independent courts to make within the legislative framework set by Parliament, taking all the relevant facts and circumstances of each case into account.

The Recover, Renew, Transform (RRT) Programme launched in 2021 (although Scottish Government funding for remote jury centres – which went on to become part of the RRT programme – had begun in 2020/21). The tables below set out how RRT funding was allocated and spent in 2021-22 and 2022-23. The expenditure figures for 2022-23 are provisional, and correct as at March 2023.

It should be noted that allocations made at the beginning of each financial year are indicative, and in each year a proportion of RRT funding has been unallocated, allowing for a degree of flexibility. Organisations’ requirements are kept under review over the year, and their final spend from RRT funding will depend on factors like whether the costs they anticipated arose, and considerations across other funding streams.

This information is publicly available through the SEPA Waste Discover Data Tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/ .

Please note, the impact of a cyber attack means there are data gaps covering 2019 and 2020.

The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Addendum for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme were updated when the amending Regulations were introduced in December 2021. Any further changes to the Deposit Return Scheme Regulations will have the appropriate impact assessment work carried out during the drafting process in the same way.