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Over and above city region deals The Scottish Government is engaged in a number of discussions with regions developing proposals for economic growth. Deals offer the potential for new collaborative regional partnerships, focused on long-term strategic approaches to improving regional economies.

My officials are working with Argyll & Bute; the 3 Ayrshire Councils; Falkirk; Moray; Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles, who are working together to develop an Island approach and The Borderlands to understand proposals and priorities.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with all our cities and regions; urban and rural to unlock investment. This could be individually or collectively and could be through a Deal, one of the SG’s devolved initiatives to stimulate growth and deliver infrastructure investment, or a combination of measures.

The Scottish Government is working with a number of regional partners who have developed economic growth proposals to realise opportunities across Scotland, capitalising upon local knowledge and resources to deliver more equal growth across the country.

Deals whether city, region or rural offer the potential for new collaborative regional partnerships focused on long term strategic approaches to improving economies.

The starting point should be a regional strategic vision for economic development. Each deal is bespoke and can include a package of measures designed to work as a coherent whole. Any deal must however support a long term focus on the priorities required to deliver Scotland's Economic Strategy - inclusive, sustainable economic growth.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10213 on 19 July 2017, on whether the Scottish Government will introduce local or rural growth deals.

We welcome The Scottish Parliament Local Government and Communities Committee inquiry on city region deals. A call for written evidence as part of its scrutiny of city region deals was launched in April 2017. The Committee is considering the written submissions received before agreeing its next steps. The Scottish Government has worked closely with the UK Government and regional partners to ensure robust governance and accountability is built in to city region deals and will consider carefully any issues raised by the Committee and respond appropriately.

The National Council of Rural Advisers has been established to provide advice and recommendations on future rural policy and support to help create a vibrant, sustainable and productive rural economy. Members have been appointed to the Council on the basis of their expertise and knowledge of the rural economy gained from living and working Scotland’s in rural communities.

My officials are supporting the independent National Council of Rural Advisers on the development of their workplan and stakeholder strategy over the summer. We would expect the Council to seek the views of a wide variety of stakeholders and representatives across rural, coastal and island communities.

The Scottish Government is committed to the development of the TIMES model. A dedicated branch sits with in the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to run and extend the model. The Scottish Government has also seconded a TIMES analyst to ClimateXchange at Edinburgh University to develop the model further and to support the adoption of the TIMES model by the wider academic community in Scotland. The Scottish Government also has ongoing engagement with the academic community, who review and advise on assumptions and data that support the development of the model.

The Scottish Government has in place a range of regulatory and voluntary activity to increase recycling rates, including of drinks containers, and to reduce all types of litter.

This activity includes supporting the UK-wide Courtauld Commitment with retailers and industry to introduce voluntary targets to increase recycling rates, improve design for recyclability and drive waste reduction. Information about the success of these measures can be found here:

http://www.wrap.org.uk/category/initiatives/courtauld-commitment.

The Scottish Government has also agreed a Household Recycling Charter with COSLA to move to a consistent system that will make it easier to recycle. Zero Waste Scotland is providing financial support to the 25 councils which have signed up to the Charter. It is voluntary, but the Scottish Government will consider what other measures might be required if sufficient progress is not made.

This voluntary approach on recycling is underpinned by regulatory action, such as the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 which require the separate collection of recyclable materials, the provision of recycling facilities to households and a ban on recyclable material being incinerated. This holistic approach to improving recycling has seen an improvement in household recycling to a current rate of 44.2%, compared to 40.1% in 2011.

Through Zero Waste Scotland we are also supporting voluntary measures to tackle littering, such as anti-littering tool kits and support for local networks. We have also taken a range of legislative steps with a focus on preventing littering behaviours. These include increasing the fines for both littering and flytipping, widening the range of public bodies which can issue fines, and working with local authorities on Litter Prevention Action Plans.

The Climate Change Plan modelling takes into account the EU ETS cap for the traded sector to 2020. In subsequent years, the Climate Change Plan modelling uses actual emissions from the traded sector rather than reflecting the impact of the ETS cap. This reflects the fact that individual countries' share of the cap beyond 2020 have yet to be determined.

The impact of the UK's exit from the EU on the role of emissions trading was not factored into the draft Plan since the UK Government has not yet taken a position on the UK's future relationship with the EU ETS. The EU ETS remains a fundamental part of UK and Scottish climate change legislation.