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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: S6W-38449

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37774 by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025, what the estimated cost will be across all local authorities of introducing household collections for recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging.

Question reference: S6W-38448

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37767 by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025, what assessment has been made of the proportion of (a) public bodies, excluding local authorities, and (b) private sector businesses that are ready to comply with the ban on municipal biodegradable waste to landfill by sending to another facility in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38270

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what subsidies are provided to publicly operated electric vehicle (EV) charge points run by ChargePlace Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04798

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications and consequences of not achieving net zero by 2045 would be for Scotland, including the economy.

Question reference: S6W-38156

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) there is disposal capacity to treat all biodegradable municipal waste and (b) all biodegradable municipal waste will be treated in Scotland in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-38157

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it, its agencies, or anyone acting on its behalf have had discussions with parties outwith Scotland regarding treating municipal biodegradable waste after 31 December 2025.

Question reference: S6W-37770

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any extra resources will be made available to local authorities to hire additional waste management and operative staff, ahead of the design of a statutory Household Recycling Charter.

The 2025-26 budget provides local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15.1 billion, a real terms increase of 5.5% and the Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently.

As such, the vast majority of funding 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. This includes for waste services on the balance of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with local government representatives to design the methodology for the co-design of the Code of Practice. This collaborative work will help to ensure that the project draws on best available evidence whilst also being deliverable and affordable.

This partnership working will also ensure that any new commitments or changes to existing policy that have a financial cost for local government, will be considered and approved through the formal financial governance process. This requires agreed recommendations from the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG) and political agreement from Scottish Ministers and COSLA political Leaders.

Question reference: S6W-37774

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the development of markets for recycled plastic flexibles and films.

The Scottish Government is working to support the development of markets for recycled plastic flexibles and films through a combination of policy commitments and infrastructure investment.

As part of its broader strategy to enhance recycling services, the Scottish Government has committed to introducing household collections for recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging by 31 March 2027. This initiative aims to increase the availability of recyclable materials and increase demand for recycled products.

To bolster recycling capabilities, the Scottish Government has provided funding through the Recycling Improvement Fund. For instance, Fife Council received £470,000 to develop plastic film recycling services locally. This assisted in the installation of advanced sorting equipment, allowing the council to accept flexible plastics at the kerbside and process them into high-quality materials for the market.

Scottish Enterprise would also consider supporting growing businesses in this area, particularly if they are directly aligned with their mission to boost capital investment.

Question reference: S6W-37773

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help any small and medium-sized enterprises that are impacted by its waste policies to identify viable markets and outlets for residual waste.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the sector and associated bodies, such as RMAS, the Resource Management Association Scotland, to consider and discuss issues relevant to the sector. This includes a recent meeting on 29 April (plus continued follow-up discussions) on sector challenges faced by small and medium sized enterprises (SMES) with SEPA and RMAS (who represent SMEs in the waste and resource management sector).

Question reference: S6W-37767

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has verified that each local authority is ready to comply with and support implementation of the ban on biodegradable municipal waste to landfill.