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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-32599

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) it, (b) its agencies and (c) other public bodies have intervened in the production of the Indian film, Bell Bottom, to halt filming work and, if so, for what reason.

Question reference: S5W-32198

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much food waste it has prevented in each year since 2013.

As outlined in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan a public review of progress towards the 33% target will take place during 2021, providing updated estimates of total food waste in Scotland and the commercial & industrial and household proportions. Scotland does not currently collect waste data at the granular level necessary to report annually or by supply chain sector.

The developing actions and infrastructure described in the response to question S5W-32200 on 30 October 2020, together with improvement in measurement methodologies will support an enhanced capacity for food waste and surplus measurement and reporting going forward.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-32191

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the timeframe is to deliver the £70 million fund to improve local authority refuse collection infrastructure and develop a new route map to reduce waste.

Question reference: S5W-32201

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what projection it has made for (a) CO2e and (b) methane emissions from landfilled biodegradable waste up until 2025, broken down by (i) household food waste and (ii) biodegradable waste in general.

The following table provides a projection to the end of 2024. The projection for the year 2025 is currently under review. The projection was based on waste and emissions statistics up to 2017, assumes that key waste and recycling targets are met, and that biodegradable municipal waste being sent to landfill is banned in 2025. The carbon dioxide equivalent emissions are reported using the 100 year global warming potential for methane of 28 as provided in the International Panel on Climate Change 5 th Assessment Report. https://archive.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg1/WG1AR5_Chapter08_FINAL.pdf (p. 731)

Projected methane emissions from biodegradable waste landfilled in Scotland

	2017(base)	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Carbon dioxideequivalent (Mt)	1.43	1.37	1.31	1.24	1.16	1.08	0.99	0.91
Methane (kt)	51.2	49.1	46.7	44.2	41.4	38.5	35.5	32.3

There has been no direct modelling of emissions for household food waste sent to landfill.

The following table provides a projection to the end of 2024. The projection for the year 2025 is currently under review. The projection was based on waste and emissions statistics up to 2017, assumes that key waste and recycling targets are met, and that biodegradable municipal waste being sent to landfill is banned in 2025. The carbon dioxideequivalent emissions are reported using the 100 year global warming potential for methane of 28 as provided in the International Panel on Climate Change 5 th Assessment Report. https://archive.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg1/WG1AR5_Chapter08_FINAL.pdf (p. 731).

Question reference: S5W-32200

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the (a) development and (b) deployment of infrastructure to support the reporting of food waste.

We remain committed to consulting on the Scottish Government’s proposals for enhancing food waste monitoring and measurement, as set out in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan, in due course. There is considerable ongoing work to support food businesses to voluntarily report their food waste and surplus in Scotland through Zero Waste Scotland’s activities. This includes supporting businesses to consistently measure and monitor their food waste, analysis to determine the largest waste sources, improving measurement methodologies and development of best practice to support accurate food waste reporting.

Proposals for powers to enable mandatory public annual reporting of food waste and food surplus were consulted on during autumn 2019 as part of draft proposals for legislation for developing Scotland’s Circular Economy, receiving a positive response. The full independent analysis of these consultation responses is available on the Scottish Government website .

The UK electronic waste tracking system, in which Scottish Government and SEPA are partners, will offer near real time data on site-specific food waste arising from businesses. This system will offer granular detail necessary to help facilitate nation-specific annual public reporting, identify Scottish site-specific data, and align with EU food waste reporting requirements. Two prototype systems are currently being finalised before procurement for delivery of the final system takes place in Spring 2021.

Question reference: S5W-32235

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the advice it has received that specifically advises banning background music in hospitality venues to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Factors such as background sound that may lead to raised voices or cause people to lean-in close to others to be heard are a risk factor in the transmission of coronavirus. This is recognised by a wide body of publicly available scientific evidence in relation to the role of aerosols in the transmission of viruses. The current position of no background sound, including low level music and audio from television, is a measured and cautious approach to reduce risk. It is being kept under review and government has engaged with industry experts to consider how guidance can be developed to allow low level background sound to be managed safely when transmission rates are back to a manageable level.

Question reference: S5W-32192

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £70 million fund to improve waste and recycling infrastructure is new funding.

Question reference: S5W-32549

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the aviation industry.

Question reference: S5W-32538

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 26 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has committed to research into the animal welfare impacts of electric shock collars.

Question reference: S5W-32494

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 26 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has instructed its appointed office equipment supplier in its procurement framework not to deliver IT equipment and supplies to people working from home and, if so, when that instruction was given, and when it plans to rescind it.

The Scottish Government has not instructed its framework suppliers of IT equipment not to deliver equipment and supplies to people working from home.

Scottish public sector organisations using these frameworks can directly engage with suppliers to discuss their specific order, build and delivery requirements. The procurement frameworks have the flexibility to accommodate requests for bespoke delivery, including home delivery.