- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the level of progress in household recycling during 2023.
Answer
The Scottish Government welcomes the news that recently released statistics from SEPA show that in 2023 both the amount of household waste generated, and the carbon impact of Scotland’s household waste, were at their lowest levels since records began in 2011.
The small increase in the household recycling rate of 0.15% to 43.5% in 2023 shows there is work to do to increase recycling and to support our sustainable resource and climate goals. This is why our Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 and draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map set out numerous measures to increase Scotland's reuse and recycling rates.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the proportion of zero-emissions vehicles in (a) its own fleet, (b) each of its agencies' fleets and (c) the public sector fleet as a whole has been in each of the last five years.
Answer
A breakdown of the Scottish Government fleet (including pool, Government Car Service and Transport Scotland) over the last 5 years is provided in the following table.
Year | Zero Emission % |
2020-21 | 13% |
2021-22 | 27% |
2022-23 | 27% |
2023-24 | 27% |
2024-25 (1) | 27% |
Notes
1.Data range 01 April to 22 October 2024.
Transport Scotland holds information on the composition of the public sector fleet based on responses to surveys of vehicle type in 2020, 2022 and 2023, this information is summarised in the following table for Scottish Government agencies. Transport Scotland does not hold information for each of the last 5 years.
Executive Agencies | 2020 Zero Emission % | 2022 Zero Emission % | 2023 Zero Emission % |
Accountancy in Bankruptcy | No Fleet | No Fleet | No Fleet |
Disclosure Scotland | No Data Held | No Fleet | No Fleet |
Education Scotland | No Fleet | No Fleet | No Fleet |
Forestry and Land Scotland | No Data Held | 4% | 15% |
Scottish Forestry | 0.14% | 8% | 17% |
Scottish Pensions Agency | No Fleet | No Fleet | No Fleet |
Scottish Prison Service | 4% | 2% | 3% |
Social Security Scotland | 0% | 50% | 75% |
Student Awards Agency for Scotland | No Data Held | Data Not Held | No Fleet |
Data collected by Transport Scotland in 2020,2022 and 2023 indicates that there are around 30,000 vehicles in the public sector fleet, the following table shows the % of zero emission vehicles in the fleet in each of the years that data was collected.
Public Sector Fleet | % Vehicles that are Zero Emission |
2020 | 5% |
2022 | 12% |
2023 | 17% |
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the benefits to Scotland will be of a fully circular waste management system.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the increase in tonnage of waste incinerated, outlined in the 2023 household waste statistics, to be a positive or negative market signal for prevention and reuse efforts.
Answer
Scotland was the first UK nation to introduce a ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste, which comes into force on 31 December 2025.
The increase in waste incinerated reflects preparations for the upcoming ban which have already supported a decrease in the total amount of waste going to landfill in Scotland by half over the past decade.
As we continue to increase our reuse and recycling rates, we will produce even less waste, however we will still need an appropriate way to manage our unavoidable and unrecyclable waste – and continue to reduce the amount going to landfill. The development of the Waste Route Map with partners now the Circular Economy Act is in place will be critical in accelerating action in this area.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 4 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the WWF publication, 2024 Living Planet Report.
Answer
The findings of the WWF Living Planet Report provide further evidence, if any were needed, that the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss represent the existential threat of our times. We know we must take urgent action to address them now.
Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity sets out our ambition to be nature-positive, halting biodiversity loss by 2030 and making significant progress to restoring nature by 2045. The Strategic Framework will drive a step change to accelerate the pace and scale of our efforts. It includes: the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, the first six yearly Delivery Plan, and a framework for statutory nature restoration targets to be established through the Natural Environment Bill.
The Bill will also include provisions to:
- Reform deer management in Scotland
- Modernise the aims and powers of National Park Authorities
- Provide powers to allow for future amendments to Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) legislation and the 1994 Habitats Regulations to support delivery of our net zero and biodiversity goals.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an overview of the public electric vehicle charging network, including what the (a) number of installed chargers, (b) potential uptime, (c) recorded downtime and (d) proportion of uptime and downtime served to the public has been in each month of the last three years.
Answer
We can only provide information relating to the Scottish Government funded ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) public electric vehicle (EV) charging network. The commercial sector does not make their own charge point fault information readily available to third parties.
The following tables provides a monthly breakdown of the total number of charge points on the CPS network by month and the recorded uptime and downtime across the entire CPS network as served to the public for the last three years
CPS have published a Network Performance page on the CPS website which provides a breakdown by local authority from November 2021. This will continuously be updated with ready access to detailed information on the performance of the public charging network. Prior to November 2021 this information was not collated by the Scottish Government.
Please note that the new CPS contractor took over responsibility of the contract from the end of July 2021, therefore the figures provided are from the first full month of delivery.
2021 | 21-Aug | 21-Sep | 21-Oct | 21-Nov | 21-Dec |
Number of Units | 1760 | 2065 | 2101 | 2126 | 2148 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 78,566,400 | 89,208,000 | 90,763,200 | 91,843,200 | 95,886,720 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 16,368,360 | 5,894,580 | 3,418,500 | 5,877,720 | 3,995,340 |
% Downtime | 20.83% | 6.61% | 3.77% | 6.40% | 4.17% |
% Uptime | 79.17% | 93.39% | 96.23% | 93.60% | 95.83% |
2022 | January | February | March | April | May |
Number of Units | 2168 | 2216 | 2227 | 2249 | 2268 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 96,779,520 | 89,349,120 | 99,413,280 | 97,157,800 | 101,243,520 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 5,271,720 | 3,869,460 | 3,276,960 | 5,361,522 | 4,286,700 |
% Downtime | 5.45% | 4.33% | 3.20% | 5.50% | 4.20% |
% Uptime | 94.55% | 95.67% | 96.80% | 94.50% | 95.80% |
2022 | June | July | August | September | October |
Number of Units | 2284 | 2319 | 2363 | 2389 | 2388 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 98,668,800 | 103,520,160 | 105,484,320 | 103,204,800 | 106,600,320 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 5,422,800 | 3,049,860 | 4,816,200 | 1,910,400 | 2,131,020 |
% Downtime | 5.50% | 2.95% | 4.50% | 1.85% | 2.00% |
% Uptime | 94.50% | 97.05% | 95.50% | 98.15% | 98.00% |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
2022 | November | December |
Number of Units | 2413 | 2448 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 104,241,600 | 109,278,720 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 3,648,456 | 4,261,870 |
% Downtime | 3.50% | 3.90% |
% Uptime | 96.50% | 96.10% |
2023 | January | February | March | April | May |
Number of Units | 2459 | 2475 | 2493 | 2518 | 2512 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 109,769,760 | 99,792,000 | 111,287,520 | 108,777,600 | 112,135,680 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 3,512,632 | 3,293,136 | 3,338,626 | 3,263,328 | 3,139,799 |
% Downtime | 3.20% | 3.30% | 3.00% | 3.00% | 2.80% |
% Uptime | 96.80% | 96.70% | 97.00% | 97.00% | 97.20% |
2023 | June | July | August | September | October |
Number of Units | 2531 | 2569 | 2574 | 2599 | 2618 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 109,339,200 | 114,680,160 | 114,903,360 | 112,276,800 | 116,867,520 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 2,952,158 | 2,752,324 | 2,757,681 | 2,694,643 | 2,687,953 |
% Downtime | 2.70% | 2.40% | 2.40% | 2.40% | 2.30% |
% Uptime | 97.30% | 97.60% | 97.60% | 97.60% | 97.70% |
| | | | | | |
2023 | November | December |
Number of Units | 2648 | 2682 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 114,393,600 | 119,724,480 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 2,516,659 | 2,753,663 |
% Downtime | 2.20% | 2.30% |
% Uptime | 97.80% | 97.70% |
2024 | January | February | March | April | May |
Number of Units | 2705 | 2760 | 2779 | 2795 | 2845 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 120,751,200 | 111,283,200 | 124,054,560 | 120,744,000 | 127,000,800 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 2,898,029 | 2,336,947 | 2,729,200 | 2,656,368 | 2,667,017 |
% Downtime | 2.40% | 2.10% | 2.20% | 2.20% | 2.10% |
% Uptime | 97.60% | 97.90% | 97.80% | 97.80% | 97.90% |
2024 | June | July |
Number of Units | 2871 | 2885 |
Potential Uptime(minutes) | 124,027,200 | 128,786,400 |
Logged Downtime per fault tickets( minutes) | 2,852,626 | 2,962,087 |
% Downtime | 2.30% | 2.30% |
% Uptime | 97.70% | 97.70% |
| | 2871 | 2885 |
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 31 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02414 by
Lorna Slater on 8 September 2021, whether Zero Waste Scotland was one of the agencies that worked on
the multi-agency project that resulted in the electronic duty of care (edoc)
system, and, if this is the case, for what reason no
details of this were included in the answer to question S6W-30359 by
Gillian Martin on 16 October 2024.
Answer
The reply to the 2024 PQ S6W-30359 was interpreted as seeking cost information for the Digital Waste Tracking project. The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system was a wholly separate project to the ongoing “Digital Waste Tracking” project. As such, edoc was not referred to in the response to PQ S6W-30359 on 16 October 2024.
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
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether any of its current electric vehicle fleet was purchased through loan or other credit agreements, and, if so, whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) value of those agreements at purchase, (b) amounts outstanding and (c) amount of interest payable on any agreements.
Answer
There are no Scottish Government vehicles purchased through loan or credit agreements.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it stated that the terms of reference of the Zero Waste Scotland landfill ban and infrastructure capacity report were "incomplete" and "under final review" on 19 June 2024, in correspondence with Friends of the Earth Scotland in response to freedom of information request FOI/202400417634, in light of it having stated in earlier correspondence on 3 May 2024 that the "outputs and recommendations of this work are currently under consideration by the Scottish Government".
Answer
The landfill ban and infrastructure capacity report was published by Zero Waste Scotland on 11 October 2024. At the time of the Environmental Information Regulations request (EIR), 19 June 2024, the report was still being reviewed by ZWS. Scottish Government considered outputs and considerations of various draft versions of the report prior to its final publication.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its previous announcement that it plans to align with other UK administrations to deliver a UK-wide ban on single-use vapes, whether it expects that this ban will come into effect from 1 April 2025.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with a four-nation approach towards banning the sale and supply of single-use vapes.
In order to align with timescales recently announced by the Welsh and UK governments and provide consistency across the four nations, the Scottish Government will lay legislation to amend the coming into force date in the Scottish regulations banning the sale and supply of these vapes recently passed by the Scottish Parliament from 1 April 2025 to 1 June 2025.
