Maurice Golden

18 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many written parliamentary questions were answered (a) within and (b) after the due date, in each month since July 2021. 

Answer · George Adam: The Government produces quarterly statistics, available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which show how many parliamentary questions were cleared after the substantive date and those still outstanding at the time of audit.

18 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals have been monitored electronically in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area .

Answer · Keith Brown: Identifying the number of individuals monitored electronically in each year is not possible from the data held without significant further analysis to remove from the data, those individuals who may have received multiple orders and licences over the period. …

18 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices were (a) permanently and (b) temporarily closed to new patients in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Practices must apply to their Health Boards to close their lists and agree the conditions and timelines for reopening them. Circumstances will arise where a practice experiences capacity issues and is u…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have been classed as unlawfully at large in each month since January 2020.

Answer · Ash Regan: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows: The following table indicates the number of incidents in each month where an individual was identified as being Unlawfully at …

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on hospitality in each year since 2020, broken down by directorate.

Answer · Ivan McKee: A table showing spend by Scottish Government directorates within hospitality codes in the Scottish Government ledger in the financial years 2020-2021 and 2021-22 is as follows.  Directorate2020-20212021-2022££Advanced Learning and Science Directorate850Direc…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times (a) it and (b) its agencies have used public figures in communications campaigns since 2016, and how much was spent hiring the public figure in each case. 

Answer · John Swinney: Since 2016, the Scottish Government has worked with 63 individuals who are public figures on 104 occasions as part of communication campaigns delivered via the central Scottish Government Marketing Team. Of those 63 individuals, 4 have been part of a Scottish…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any underspend in capital projects over the financial year 2021-22, broken down by project and the reason for any underspend in each case.

Answer · Tom Arthur: We publish a six-monthly update on the progress of infrastructure projects with a capital value of £5 million or more which are at the Outline Business Case (or equivalent) approved stage or beyond and the most recent update can be found via the following web…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many air quality management areas (a) there have been and (b) have been revoked after air quality standards improved, in each year since 2016.

Answer · Mairi McAllan: In 2016 there were 39 air quality management areas designated in Scotland, since then five air quality management areas have been revoked due to improvements in air quality (1 in 2016, 1 in 2020, 2 in 2021 and 1 in 2022). Revocation procedures for a further …

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will request that SEPA conducts a review of fire safety measures at waste handling facilities, in light of the major fire at the Suez Recycling and Recovery plant in Altens.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 places a responsibility on any person who has control of any premises to ensure that those occupying the premises are safe from harm caused by fire. The legislation places a duty on those responsible for fire safety within relevan…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the latest results of the Material Flow Accounts, due to be published in September 2022, will inform the analysis of its consultation on a circular economy bill.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The update of the Material Flow Accounts will inform the development of policy for the circular economy bill.

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Recycling Improvement Fund estimates the carbon reduction potential of applications and, if this is the case, what the average carbon savings are of (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful projects in (i) tCO2e and (ii) tCO2e per tonne waste managed.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Over £23 million has been awarded to 15 local authorities, to date, through the Recycling Improvement Fund. This marks one of the biggest investments in recycling in a generation. These initial investments have the potential to reduce CO2e emissions by 29,74…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) it and (b) Zero Waste Scotland (i) use and (ii) plan to use the Carbon Metric for waste to support the reduction of environmental impacts of waste management.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Carbon Metric measures the whole-life carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste, and is a vital tool in our work to address the climate emergency. The most recent data shows that in 2018 the carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste fell to the lowest on recor…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when Zero Waste Scotland plans to publish the next update of the Carbon Metric for waste.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Zero Waste Scotland will publish the next update of the Carbon Metric for waste in March 2023. The publication of the Carbon Metric in March 2023 will be the last time the tool, in its current format, will be used. From 2023 a report on the carbon impacts o…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what current research and work Zero Waste Scotland is conducting to develop the Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT).

Answer · Lorna Slater: SWEFT is currently in development by Zero Waste Scotland. Research is focused on identifying accurate and representative data that is needed to estimate the environmental impacts and how best to communicate results to stakeholders according to international b…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to use the Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT) created by Zero Waste Scotland to support policy decision making on waste and resources.

Answer · Lorna Slater: As the Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT) is developed it will be used as appropriate to support policy making, helping to ensure that we have a sustainable international material footprint, and supporting the Scottish waste and resources sec…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the incineration of fossil carbon that (a) were emitted from 2007 to 2021 and (b) will be emitted from 2022 to 2024.

Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-08524 on 19 May 2022 and S6W-08585 on 7 June 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliame…

15 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01360 by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021, whether it will provide an update on what proportion of (a) its and (b) each of its agencies' vehicle fleet is comprised of zero-emission vehicles, also broken down by what information it has for other publi…

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: As part of our commitment for decarbonisation the Scottish Government, and associated Agencies, is working towards our commitment to phase out the need for all petrol or diesel cars in the public sector fleet by 2025 and for all other new petrol and diesel ve…

8 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the findings of its most recent gateway review of the Deposit Return Scheme were presented to the Scottish Ministers, and when they will be published.

Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08833 on 14 June 2022. 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 Jul 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many gateway reviews of the Deposit Return Scheme have been carried out, and whether it has any plans to notify the Scottish Parliament in advance of any future gateway reviews of the Scheme being carried out.

Answer · Lorna Slater: There have been four Gateway Reviews of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. Regular Gateway Reviews are a standard part of the Scottish Government’s project management framework, there is no requirement to notify the Scottish Parliament in advance when a Gatewa…

26 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether Zero Waste Scotland will continue to be funded entirely from public funds.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), as well as other partners, is supporting the Scottish Government to realise ambitions for a Circular Economy in Scotland which is critical to tackling the climate and nature crises. In this regard, ZWS is an important delivery partn…

24 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the root causes behind the reported lack of significant progress in increasing Scotland’s household recycling rate relative to 2011, and, if no such breakdown exists, whether it will provide details of the steps that it is taking to conduct such an …

Answer · Lorna Slater: On 30 May 2022 we published our consultation on Delivering Scotland’s circular economy – a Route Map to 2025 and beyond. The Route Map sets out system-wide interventions to help deliver Scotland’s transition to a zero waste and circular economy, significantly…

22 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will request that SEPA issues no further waste management licences for incineration plants other than for those under construction or in receipt of planning permission, or for potential remote/rural projects as identified in the recent Independent Review of the Role of Inciner…

Answer · Lorna Slater: Under Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012, SEPA may only grant a permit in respect of a specified waste management activity if it is satisfied that planning permission is in force under the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 199…

22 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on intervening to end lock-ins for local authority incineration contracts in order to support the development of a declining cap on incineration capacity.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Local authorities are responsible for and best placed to take decisions on contractual arrangements for the provision of waste services. The independent review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy recommended that when negotiating contracts for …

22 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have settled residual waste treatment options, broken down by (a) what those options are and (b) the length of any lock-in conditions, and which local authorities have no settled options.

Answer · Lorna Slater: Local authorities are responsible for the provision of local waste services and are, therefore, best placed to comment on the detail of contractual arrangements for residual waste treatment. Based on information provided by local authorities, the majority of…

22 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will commence the first practical measures to divert plastics from residual waste sent for incineration as outlined in its response to the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government is already taking measures to reduce the quantity of plastic in the residual waste stream. In terms of reducing the proportion of recyclable materials (which include plastics) in residual waste streams, we have implemented bans on prob…

22 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07791 by Lorna Slater on 3 May 2022, whether it will provide an update on the status of the discussions, and when it anticipates contracts will be signed.

Answer · Lorna Slater: On 19 July 2022, Circularity Scotland Ltd announced that it has signed a contract with Biffa to become Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme’s logistics service provider. The award of this contract is a key milestone in the roll out of the scheme and the agreemen…

22 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the results in the last three years of (a) staff wellbeing surveys conducted by Zero Waste Scotland and (b) complaints raised about working practices at Zero Waste Scotland, and, if it is unable to provide such details, how members of the public are able to access…

Answer · Lorna Slater: Zero Waste Scotland is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Its work in relation to staff wellbeing and working practices is an operational matter for the body. I have asked Zero Waste Scotland’s CEO to respond directly to you on this matter.

18 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many specialist food and drink retailers producing hampers, parcels and gift sets it has engaged with on its deposit return scheme, broken down by how many have responded to its contacts.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government has engaged with a wide range of drinks businesses throughout the policy development and implementation stages for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), including through two stages of consultation (running from 25 June 2018 – 25 September …

15 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority of (a) direct Scottish Government funding from the Nature Restoration Fund, (b) all project applications made to the Fund, (c) the projects that received money from the Fund and (d) the value of each award.

Answer · Lorna Slater: The Nature Restoration Fund is subdivided into two main strands, each of which is further sub-divided, as follows: 1. The competitive strand, which is subdivided into:Projects less than £250k lasting 1-2 years;Projects greater than £250k lasting 2-4 years. …

15 Jun 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08710 by Tom Arthur on 14 June 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority area of all applications to the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme received in each stage of funding, also broken down by (a) which ones were succ…

Answer · Tom Arthur: The following table provides a breakdown by local authority area of all applications to the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme received in Round 1, for funding in financial year 2021-22. Applicant Project proposal Award City of Edinburgh Counci…