Parliamentary questions
Sarah Boyack
2,373 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what baseline statistics it uses for recycling rates.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government use SEPA’s ‘Waste from All Sources’ data as a baseline for recycling rates in Scotland. This includes statistical measures to support targets specified in Scottish waste policies. Those most relevant to recycling are:Recycled construc…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on who Circularity Scotland has met with during 2023.
Answer · Lorna Slater: As Circularity Scotland (CSL) is a private company, the Scottish government does not have a record of all their meetings and engagements. However, as an industry led company, CSL has regular engagement with its members and businesses involved with DRS. CSL ha…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet last discussed the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Cabinet has received regular updates on the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and last discussed it on 6 June 2023. Cabinet was briefed on the latest position regarding letters exchanged with the UK Government on the Internal Market Act, in particular the UK Go…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the Deposit Return Scheme Implementation Advisory Group last met.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) was formed when Zero Waste Scotland was developing DRS, carrying out associated impact assessments and working with Scottish Government to develop and lay the original DRS regulations. It met during 2019 and 2020 and wa…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-01392 by Lorna Slater on 23 May 2023, whether it will list the membership of the high-level ministerial strategic group for the delivery of the scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The membership of the Ministerial Strategic Assurance Group has representation from the following Circularity Scotland Limited SEPA Zero Waste Scotland Scottish Hospitality Group The Wine and Spirit Trade Association The British Beer and Pub Association…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is still its position, as set out by the former Deputy First Minister in his letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 31 January 2023, that it "agrees with the goal of promoting long term alignment of…
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government has always been clear that we will work closely with the UK and devolved Governments to maximise interoperability of the schemes, while acknowledging that waste and recycling policy is fully devolved. In order to do this, the UK Gover…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the First Minister and the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity last met to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The First Minister and myself met on 7 June 2023 to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme.
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received legal advice on the position of paying compensation in the event that the Deposit Return Scheme is cancelled.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government has received legal advice on matters relating to DRS on an ongoing basis as appropriate. The content of any legal advice is confidential. By long-standing convention, successive Scottish and Westminster Governments have not disclosed t…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reconsidered or revised any impact assessments as a result of the delay in implementing the Deposit Return Scheme, and, if so, which ones.
Answer · Lorna Slater: A suite of impact assessments has been updated to reflect the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Amendment Regulations 2023, which changed the implementation date of the scheme to 1 March 2024, alongside a number of simplification measures. Updated versi…
24 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many stakeholders it has met with, to date, to discuss barcodes for products within scope of the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: In line with the DRS governance structure, officials meet regularly with a range of stakeholders from multiple sectors to discuss operational issues including barcodes for DRS articles. There are no barcode requirements with Scotland’s DRS Regulations. Produ…
23 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the (a) Welsh Government and (b) Northern Ireland Executive to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Ministers last met on 22 May at the Inter-Ministerial Group on environment, food and rural affairs, with discussions focussing on an exclusion for DRS from the UK Internal Market Act. Officials from the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Irela…
23 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with GS1 UK.
Answer · Lorna Slater: While the Scottish Government has not met with GS1 to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), the scheme administrator Circularity Scotland has set out the requirement to use a GS1 compliant barcode and will therefore be adhering to its standards. Under the…
23 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14626 by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023, whether the guidance on the use of barcode stickers has been (a) produced and (b) published.
Answer · Lorna Slater: As stated in the response to S6W-14626, Circularity Scotland set out the requirement to use a GS1 compliant barcode in 2021 and this has not changed – it is an international standard. The ability to use a UK-wide EAN barcode within Scotland’s DRS was confirme…
22 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, following the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (IMG EFRA) on 17 April 2023, whether it has provided the additional information requested by the UK Government regarding the impact of the Deposit Return Scheme on businesses, and, if so, (a) on what date it d…
Answer · Lorna Slater: Throughout the development of DRS the Scottish Government and partners have developed and published a range of evidence on the benefits and impacts of the scheme. The Scottish Government also provided all information which was required to make a decision on …
16 May 2023 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns of Edinburgh City Council that it could still be two years away from having the powers to implement a Transient Visitor Levy.
9 May 2023 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Court of Session's ruling that a so-called nil cap for sexual entertainment venues under provisions in the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 is unlawful.
8 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs from 15 to 21 May 2023, what steps it is taking to tackle under-diagnosis of coeliac disease, in light of reports that more than 30,000 people in Scotland with the condition are undiagnosed.
Answer · Jenni Minto: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17929 on 30 May 2023. 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/…
8 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs from 15 to 21 May 2023, what steps it is taking to reduce the time that it takes to receive a diagnosis for coeliac disease, in light of reports that it can currently take 13 years.
Answer · Jenni Minto: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17929 on 30 May 2023. 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/…
8 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage NHS boards to adopt the coeliac disease clinical pathway, in line with the Once for Scotland approach.
Answer · Jenni Minto: In 2018, a new national evidence-based pathway for coeliac disease was launched across four health boards (NHS Lothian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Tayside). It was funded by Scottish Government’s Modernising Patient Pathways Progra…
5 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17395 by Shona Robison on 5 May 2023, how progress on its commitments will be reported to parliamentary committees.
Answer · Shona Robison: Ministers are content to provide any updates on progress which parliamentary committees would find helpful as part of their normal ongoing engagement on progress within their portfolios. As previously set out by the First minister, the Scottish Government is…
5 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many NHS dentists require patients to pay a deposit before registering with them.
Answer · Jenni Minto: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
5 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether patients should be required to pay a deposit to register with an NHS dentist.
Answer · Jenni Minto: There is no requirement for patients to pay a deposit on registration, you can find details of this on the following link Dental treatment - NHS Scotland | NHS inform .
4 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the delay to the launch of the Deposit Return Scheme, how much time will be available to test implementation arrangements ahead of the new launch date, and whether this has been communicated to (a) Circularity Scotland, (b) industry and (c) Zero Waste Scotland.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government and delivery partners such as Circularity Scotland, and Zero Waste Scotland have regularly engaged with businesses on the Deposit Return Scheme. The new launch date of 1 st of March 2024 provides an additional six and a half months pr…
3 May 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when a Scottish Minister will next meet with the UK Minister for Nuclear and Networks, and what will be discussed.
Answer · Gillian Martin: There are currently no meetings scheduled between Scottish Ministers and the UK Minister for Nuclear and Networks. However, Ms Martin MSP, Minister for Energy, did meet with the UK Minister for Nuclear and Networks on 27 April 2023 to discuss the UK Governmen…
27 Apr 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what specific date it provided a consideration, associated evidence and an assessment of the direct and indirect economic impacts to the UK Government regarding the proposed exclusion from the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 for the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to Scottish Government’s publication on 28 February 2023 of the timeline and process for securing an Internal Market Act exclusion for the Deposit Return Scheme: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/correspo…
27 Apr 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the letter that it indicated that it would send to the UK Government to provide an update on the Deposit Return Scheme, as referenced by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity in her statement to the Parliament on 20 April 2023.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Yes. We are committed to transparency and openness in our administration of the Deposit Return Scheme, and will publish this by the end of May 2023.
27 Apr 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what specific date it set out the scope and rationale to the UK Government regarding the proposed exclusion from the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 for the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to Scottish Government’s publication on 28 February 2023 of the timeline and process for securing an Internal Market Act exclusion for the Deposit Return Scheme: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/correspo…
25 Apr 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting the mental health of students.
Answer · Graeme Dey: In secondary schools, we continue to support local authorities to ensure that every school has access to counselling services, which are now in place across Scotland. School counselling is just one of a range of services that schools have in place to support …
25 Apr 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has informed the Scottish Funding Council of funding allocations for mental health counsellors in colleges and universities, as it committed to in the Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group meeting on 15 November 2022, and, if so, what the allocations are.
Answer · Graeme Dey: I have written to the Scottish Funding Council, copied to Colleges Scotland and Universities Scotland confirming an additional allocation of £2.205 million (for the period April to July 2023), on top of our allocation of £2.025 million announced last year (fo…
24 Apr 2023 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity on 20 April 2023, whether it will publish a breakdown of the £300 million of investment into the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Hundreds of millions of pounds of investment to prepare for the launch of the Deposit Return Scheme across a range of businesses and the value of this is now at risk unless an Internal Market Act exclusion is put in place urgently to enable the final preparat…