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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-28091

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-02027 by Màiri McAllan on 4 June 2024 and her statement that “we are not dropping targets”, whether it will clarify whether this means that it is still committed to meeting both its outstanding 2013 and 2020 household recycling targets as currently set.

The Scottish Government continues to work towards meeting 2013 and 2020 household recycling targets.

To help us meet our targets, the Circular Economy Bill and draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map set out further measures to improve and modernise local recycling services and drive up reuse and recycling rates.

This Bill also includes a commitment – in line with advice from the Climate Change Committee – to set new circular economy targets from 2025 so they are future proofed, support our work to tackle the climate emergency and help us measure progress in reducing emissions.

Question reference: S6W-28039

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the publication of a "progress report on delivery" of the recommendations that are set out in the paper, Investor Panel: Scottish Government Response to Investor Panel Recommendations.

Question reference: S6W-28038

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 14 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23922 by Mairi McAllan on 11 January 2024, whether it will provide an update on the work being undertaken to assess options and costings for resolving water deficits in each water zone.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water is currently developing its Long Term Strategy, due for publication in January 2025, which will include the investment requirements for addressing the forecast supply-demand deficits through demand reduction activities, increased connectivity between supply systems and potentially new water sources.

Scottish Water is also working on a zonal model which will inform the strategic choices for managing their supply-demand balance. Scottish Water is in the middle of the detailed planning activities and will be in a position to respond to the specifics of this query by the end of December 2024/early in 2025.

Question reference: S6O-03605

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the housing minister has had with ministerial colleagues regarding support available for veterans at risk of homelessness.

Question reference: S6O-03564

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to maximise value obtained from public sector procurement.

Scotland continues to use public procurement to achieve a vast range of positive economic, social and environmental outcomes making Scotland a better place to live, work and do business.

Latest available figures show that our £16 billion public procurement spend generated around £13.8 billion pounds of economic activity for Scotland and supported around 130,000 full time equivalent jobs.

Spend in Scotland alone was £8.9 billion and, where relevant details are known, 55% of this was with SMEs, and almost half was with businesses in the 60% most disadvantaged areas in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-27870

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what opportunities it has identified to exceed current EU standards in encouraging sustainable energy production from commercial, industrial and waste management sources.

The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining alignment with the EU where such alignment would be possible and meaningful in protecting and advancing the standards we share.

On waste management sources of energy, where waste is unavoidable and unrecyclable, the Scottish Government’s aim is to recover the highest value, while minimising as far as possible the environmental impacts of managing this waste, including through energy recovery. The second report of the Review of the Role Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy made recommendations on the decarbonisation of residual waste, and the Scottish Government accepted these recommendations in full or in principle, including on the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, ending the unnecessary incineration of plastic, incentivising heat networks and supporting the development of Carbon Capture Utilisation Storage (CCUS).

On heat networks, the Heat Network Support Unit, sponsored by the Scottish Government, supports heat network projects through the pre-capital stages of development through advice and funding. This support includes offering advice and grant funding for developing feasibility studies, Outline Business Cases (OBCs) and project commercialisation. The HNSU has supported several projects that seek to utilise excess heat from Energy from Waste facilities. This includes a recent feasibility study with Glasgow City Council, exploring the opportunity to utilise heat from the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC). Through Scotland’s Heat Network Fund and its predecessor the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, the Scottish Government has provided approximately £32.8 million combined funding for heat networks which utilise recovered heat, including two projects using recovered heat from waste facilities in both Aberdeen and Midlothian and a project recovering Heat from a Waste water treatment facility in Stirling. In addition, the Scottish Government, in collaboration with Scottish
‎ Enterprise, will shortly publish a guidance document which provides information about how we can improve the capture and utilisation of heat from industrial and commercial processes.

In taking these things forward we will of course be mindful of existing and new EU legislation, like the EU Waste Framework Directive, Industrial Emissions Directive and Renewable Energy Directive.

The second report of the Review of the Role Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy can be found here: 1 Introduction - Decarbonisation of residual waste infrastructure: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The Government Response to the second report of the Review of the Role Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy: Supporting documents - Decarbonisation of residual waste infrastructure: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Question reference: S6W-27872

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any variations granted to allow increased incineration capacities at operational incineration facilities in Scotland, since the publication of the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-27874

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to potentially using the pollution prevention and control permit system to establish a waste hierarchy that prioritises the most circular and sustainable incineration methods and outputs.

The waste hierarchy already has provision for different types of thermal treatment technology. For example, while incineration without energy recovery is classed as disposal, energy from waste processes (producing usable electricity and/or heat) can be classed as recovery of energy.

Moreover, there is scope within the waste hierarchy for technologies that produce products to be classed as recycling if appropriate. For example, where the Anaerobic Digestion of food waste is undertaken to appropriate standards to produce a usable product, this is already classified as recycling in the Official Statistics published by SEPA.

We, therefore, are not considering making additional provisions through the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) regulations 2012 (“the PPC regulations”).

Question reference: S6W-27871

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the latest incineration capacity analysis, which is being conducted by Zero Waste Scotland as part of its work in considering the delivery of the ban on biodegradable municipal waste to landfill, to be published.

Question reference: S6W-27873

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23750 by Lorna Slater on 19 December 2023, whether the criteria relating to such "exceptional circumstances" is set out in legislation, or whether it is a matter of convention.

The circumstances for the use of the direction-making powers in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 are not set out in legislation, nor are they a matter of convention. In deciding whether or not to use these powers, Ministers would consider a range of factors, including carbon reduction goals and capacity needs, and would also take into account SEPA’s role and statutory functions as Scotland’s independent environmental regulator.