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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-43725

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what actions are being taken to address habitual industrial fly-tipping.

As set out in the Duty of Care: Code of Practice for Managing Controlled Waste, every organisation and individual has a duty to ensure that, when they dispose of waste, they do so using a registered waste carrier. SEPA provides a public register of waste carriers on its website. SEPA and Revenue Scotland are members of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, a multi-agency taskforce that works in partnership to tackle serious and organised crime in the UK waste industry.

Our new digital waste tracking system, which is being introduced in all four nations, will replace existing paper-based and inconsistent systems for tracking waste with a streamlined digital service, reducing opportunities for waste crime and underpinning our transition to a circular economy.

The Scottish Government laid The Digital Waste Tracking (Scotland) Regulations 2026 before the Scottish Parliament on 12 January. These Regulations introduce the first phase of the new digital waste tracking system.

Powers introduced by the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024, when fully implemented, will strengthen the legislative foundation for tackling and deterring fly tipping. For example, new powers to be inserted into the Environment Act 1995 by section 19 will allow local authorities to search and seize vehicles suspected of being used in relation to specified waste crimes.

Question reference: S6W-43726

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to local authorities to support their work to address habitual fly-tipping.

No additional direct funding has been provided to local councils for the implementation of the National Litter and Fly tipping Strategy. However, we have funded Keep Scotland Beautiful to deliver targeted interventions working with councils and communities, and SEPA has developed the partnership enforcement model with councils.

The Scottish Government is making available record funding of £15.7 billion for Local Government in 2026-27. The vast majority of funding allocated to councils is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including meeting the requirements set out in the 2018 Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (CoPLAR).

Question reference: S6W-43721

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what statutory powers are available to local authorities to tackle habitual fly-tippers.

Fly tipping is a criminal offence in Scotland under Section 33(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 with maximum penalties on summary conviction of a fine of up to £40,000, or a custodial sentence not exceeding six months or both and on conviction on indictment, a fine or term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or both.

Local Authority enforcement officers may also issue fixed penalty notices(FPN)for fly tipping to persons believed to have fly tipped which provide the opportunity for a person to discharge liability to conviction by payment of a fixed penalty of £500, noting that habitual fly tippers should be reported to the Procurator Fiscal for prosecution. Amendments to section 33A by the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024, once in force, will allow for further increases of the fixed penalty up to a maximum of a level 3 fine(currently £1000) and also for different penalties in different circumstances, for example on a second FPN. Local authorities also have powers under section 59 to require clean-up of fly tipped waste by land occupiers, under certain circumstances.

New powers introduced by the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 will, when fully implemented, strengthen the legislative foundation for tackling and deterring fly tipping. For example, section 19 will amend the Environment Act 1995 to provide local authority and SEPA officers to search and seize vehicles suspected of being used in relation to specified waste crimes, which may include fly tipping.

Question reference: S6W-43718

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what actions are currently being taken to tackle fly-tipping.

The 2023 National Litter and Fly tipping Strategy sets out a six-year framework to take action on littering and fly tipping, with a focus on behaviour change, infrastructure and services, and enforcement.

The Strategy is delivered in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), working with other stakeholders, including local councils. Updates and action plans are published annually and are available on the Scottish Government website. These plans outline specific measures to improve the quality of fly tipping data, work collaboratively to tackle fly tipping and strengthen regulatory tools.

Recent actions include increasing the fixed penalty notice amount for fly tipping from £200 to £500; SEPA has developed a partnership model with local authorities to undertake shared investigations, data exchange, and proportionate enforcement action; and Zero Waste Scotland provided a private landowners grant scheme to support landowners to take action on fly tipping. This scheme operated for 2 years, an evaluation has recently been published and, as part of the Year 3 Action Plan, a national event has been proposed to share learning.

Question reference: S6W-43723

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what work has taken place on littering and fly-tipping since the publication of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy.

The 2023 National Litter and Fly tipping Strategy, is a six-year programme focused on behaviour change, infrastructure and services and enforcement. The Strategy is delivered in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful(KSB)and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), working with other stakeholders, including local councils. Full details of activities undertaken to date are set out in the annual update and action plans: National litter and flytipping strategy: year 2 update and year 3 action plan 2025-2026 - gov.scot and National litter and flytipping strategy: update and year 2 action plan - gov.scot.

Question reference: S6W-43717

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the measures in the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 to tackle habitual fly-tipping.

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 provides a range of powers to tackle fly tipping in Scotland. These include a number of additional powers which were added to the legislation during the Parliamentary process, which will be implemented in due course.

As the measures within the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 have not been fully introduced no review of their effectiveness to tackle habitual fly tipping has been undertaken.

Question reference: S6W-43727

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 25 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any studies into any mental health impacts on residents living near areas that are affected by habitual fly-tipping.

The Scottish Government has not conducted any specific research into mental health impacts on residents living near areas that are affected by habitual fly tipping. Keep Scotland Beautiful publish an annual Scottish Litter Survey which help us understand public perceptions of litter and fly tipping in Scotland and indicates that littering and fly tipping negatively impact the quality of life of people living in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-43876

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 9 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of ScotRail tickets are currently (a) purchased using its app and (b) still paper-based.

Question reference: S6W-43722

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed penalty fines for fly-tipping have been issued by Scotland's national parks since 1 April 2025.

Question reference: S6W-43719

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions for fly-tipping there were in each year from 2019 to 2025.