Seòmar agus comataidhean

Scottish Government officials engage regularly with waste industry stakeholders to ensure clarity and avoid misunderstanding of Scottish waste legislation and to assist with any changes in regulatory approach.

In terms of strategy, the Scottish Government published Scotland’s Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030 in December 2024, following extensive collaboration and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. The Route Map sets out how we will deliver priority actions to accelerate more sustainable use of our resources across the waste hierarchy. It takes a whole system approach to deliver coordinated, properly sequenced actions, designed to deliver cumulative impact and wider benefits to Scotland.

The Route Map can be viewed at the following link - Scotland's circular economy and waste route map to 2030 - gov.scot

The Scottish Government are in regular contact with The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) to discuss a range of environmental legislation, including the Deposit Return Scheme, and will continue to engage with relevant public bodies as we work towards the launch of DRS in October 2027.

As part of the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map, we are reviewing the Household Recycling Charter's supporting Code of Practice using a co-design process with Local Government and CoSLA representatives. The Code of Practice will be put on a statutory basis to deliver better and more consistent recycling services across Scotland. The impact of the deposit return scheme on future waste collection services is an important factor in developing the methodology for co-design.

On Monday 2 June the alcohol ban on ScotRail trains was lifted and replaced with new rules, allowing alcohol consumption at certain times.

The ban was upheld by Railway Byelaw 4 (2) which states that a passenger with intoxicating liquor can be prevented from entering, or be asked to leave the railway. This Byelaw will also support the new timed restrictions and intelligence-led alcohol bans.

Enforcement of the alcohol ban has always been the responsibility of the British Transport Police (BTP).Having timed alcohol restrictions and intelligence-led bans will allow BTP to target its resource to specific services and permit a more focussed enforcement.

The Scottish Government will publish its Health & Social Care Service Renewal Framework by the end of June, which sets out our medium and long-term intentions for transformative change. We are committed to publishing annual reports on progress against the actions set out within the Framework.

The First Minister announced on 7 February that around £14 million will be allocated to delivering the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS). The proposals for the scheme are currently being finalised and the full details about the scheme and application process are expected to be announced shortly.

That information is not held centrally.

SEPA would be best placed to provide this information.

From May 2021 to date, £9,419,808 has been spent on the provision, maintenance and servicing of free bikes. This figure includes the cost of accessories such as locks, lights and helmets, and includes the total cost of the project associated with free bike provision. This includes bikes distributed under the Free Bikes for School Children pilot programme between August 2021 and March 2023, the Free Bikes Partnership in financial year 2023-24, and under the Regional Transport Partnership-led People and Place programme in financial year 2024-25.

Due to reporting schedules, the final evaluation of the People and Place programme for financial year 2024-25 has not been completed at the time of writing. The free bikes data for 2024-25 may therefore be subject to change.

Given the nature of operating a refinery, significant regular operational expenditure would be required, alongside frequent capital expenditure, to enable the asset to continue operating - and we continue to urge the UK Government to leave no stone unturned when it comes to securing the future and the workforce of the site.

The public and business community should be confident that the Scottish Government is committed to attracting and securing investment in Grangemouth’s future, underpinned by our £25 million Grangemouth Just Transition Fund which will be utilised to support near term low carbon opportunities identified by the Grangemouth Investment Taskforce and Project Willow.

Work is ongoing to determine how the additional £4.5 million announced in the 2025-26 budget to deliver new specialist support will be allocated to NHS boards, what conditions it will cover and the services it will prioritise. It is expected that NHS boards will develop support based on their understanding of local population need and synergies with existing local service provision.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting our livestock farmers in playing a full part in Scotland’s journey to net zero, including by reducing methane emissions in ways that strengthen farm productivity and resilience. The Scottish Government has no policy to reduce the national herd, our approach focuses on reducing emissions intensity rather than livestock numbers, through improvements in genetics, low-methane breeding, and we continue to explore opportunities around appropriate uptake of methane-suppressing feed products.

We also recognise the importance of evidence and practical tools for supporting change on-farm. That’s why we’ve introduced new calving interval conditionality to the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, helping farmers increase efficiency while lowering emissions. We are also supporting farmers through data-driven tools like MyHerdStats, which provides herd performance metrics to help identify opportunities for improvement.

We will continue working with the sector to ensure it thrives as part of a climate-smart food system, while recognising the importance of Scotland’s livestock products to UK and international markets.