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The Scottish Government has not given any money to Circulatrity Scotland Ltd (CSL),

In line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle, and just like similar schemes around the world, Scotland’s deposit return scheme is being delivered and funded by industry, led by the scheme administrator, CSL.

Circularity Scotland is a not-for-profit company, delivered and funded by industry, in line with the polluter pays principle. This structure is based on successful schemes seen elsewhere in Europe, and was approved by the Scottish Parliament in 2020.

Circularity Scotland is therefore separate from government and we have no role in the recruitment of staff or their pay levels. Decisions on pay are made by the Circularity Scotland board, which is made up of members who bring a range of experience from across a range of sectors, which is appropriate for a private company that is delivering an industry-led scheme. As a private company Circularity Scotland will publish annual accounts which will include relevant salary information. Any additional information on salaries should be sought directly from Circularity Scotland.

Since 1 September 2022, I have held four meetings with representatives of larger stakeholder groups who have a keen interest in the development of a Wellbeing and Sustainable Bill and the establishment of a Future Generations Commissioner. In addition, I attended the WEAII Wealth of Nations 2.0 Conference joining in discussions with a range of participants in relation to a wellbeing economy and future generations.

The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery wrote to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee on 13 December 2022, which provided the Scottish Government’s response to the ‘Ambitions into Action’ Inquiry. The letter expressed the Deputy First Minister’s shared ambition for an NPF that better achieves impact that is recognised and felt by the people who live in Scotland. The letter also set out more details on the development of the Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill.

The Committee, in their inquiry into the National Performance Framework, stated that where necessary the Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (WSD) Bill should also give legal effect to the outputs of the statutory review of the National Performance Framework and National Outcomes. The Scottish Government is therefore considering how the NPF can be further embedded in the practices of government and public bodies which will therefore form a key part of the development of the WSD Bill.

The Scottish Government continues to develop the policy proposals for the Bill and intended to set out more detailed proposals after the Review of National Outcomes is complete.

We continue to do all we can within our current powers to enable the over 50’s workforce to return to or remain in employment for as long as they wish. Increasing participation in fair and sustainable work will ensure that prosperity is shared more equally across Scottish society, including for the over 50s, and will help to tackle poverty, inequality, and exclusion. Our Fair Work action plan: becoming a leading Fair Work nation by 2025 published on 9 December 2022 includes actions and initiatives to address labour market inequalities for specific groups who are disadvantaged in the labour market, including the over 50’s workforce. This builds on our 2019 publication, A Fairer Scotland for Older people: framework for action .

One of these initiatives is the Workplace Equality Fund, now in its fifth year, which supports private and public sector employers to improve their policies and practices to remove labour barriers for certain priority groups including the over 50s. Projects funded this year include those focused on flexible working, women’s health and the menopause, which is particularly relevant for the over 50s workforce who are known to have greater caring responsibilities and are more likely to face health issues or be experiencing the menopause.

In addition, our Woman’s Health Plan, published August 2021, articulates our menopause and menstrual health workplace policy, and we continue to promote it across the public, private and third sector

Further support is provided through our flagship devolved services No One Left Behind, Fair Start Scotland, which take a person-centred approach to supporting people of all ages into sustainable employment recognising and addressing any specific challenges faced.

The Scottish Government has no plans to commission such research.

The BuiltPlace article itself refers to the methodology being “limited in multiple ways”.

The Scottish Government set out in response to question on 22 May 2022 how it monitors the size of the private rented sector using data from the Scottish Landlord Register.

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

The Scottish Government is investing in the bus network to support long term growth, with the 2023-24 budget allocating £425.7m for concessionary fares and bus. The aim of the Network Support Grant is to help commercial operators keep their fares lower, and enable these operators to run services that might not otherwise be commercially viable, thus contributing to the maintenance of the overall bus network.

I appreciate that operators are experiencing challenges with rising costs and driver shortages which has led to concerns over the Network Support Grant base rate. I chair the Bus Taskforce to consider these issues with stakeholders, while recognising that many of the levers are reserved to the UK Government. These are matters which the UK Government could be providing assistance with but have thus far failed to do so.

The Scottish Government is providing extra funding to support a marketing campaign to encourage people back to bus. In line with our long-term goal to encourage a shift from private vehicles to sustainable modes of transport, we continue to engage with operators, delivery partners and other key stakeholders to promote public transport as an attractive way to travel as more people begin to return to workplaces and travel for leisure purposes more often.

FOI/202300342482 asked for the interim recommendations of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group, and the date these were received.

The response to FOI/202300342482, which included a copy of the interim recommendations, was issued to the requester on 7 March 2023 within the 20 working day timeframe. After completing the necessary pre-publication process, the FOI was published on the Scottish Government website on 16 March 2023 and can be accessed here .

Producers who want to sell scheme articles to consumers in Scotland on or after 16 August 2023 must be registered with SEPA.

The DRS scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) estimates that the registration process takes approximately six weeks to complete. This is similar to schemes operating elsewhere in Europe.

If producers have questions about registration, or other DRS-related matters, they should contact CSL as soon as possible.

Circularity Scotland, the scheme administrator is a private non-profit company and is responsible for operating the scheme, including logistics. Decisions regarding their contracts are for them – this is entirely appropriate for a scheme that has industry responsibility at its heart.

An extensive tender process was carried out by Circularity Scotland over a period of around 12 months and was open to businesses of all sizes. The process involved extensive due diligence by Circularity Scotland.