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The Scottish Government are in regular contact with The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) to discuss a range of environmental legislation, including the Deposit Return Scheme, and will continue to engage with relevant public bodies as we work towards the launch of DRS in October 2027.

As part of the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map, we are reviewing the Household Recycling Charter's supporting Code of Practice using a co-design process with Local Government and CoSLA representatives. The Code of Practice will be put on a statutory basis to deliver better and more consistent recycling services across Scotland. The impact of the deposit return scheme on future waste collection services is an important factor in developing the methodology for co-design.

That information is not held centrally.

SEPA would be best placed to provide this information.

Scottish Government officials engage regularly with waste industry stakeholders to ensure clarity and avoid misunderstanding of Scottish waste legislation and to assist with any changes in regulatory approach.

In terms of strategy, the Scottish Government published Scotland’s Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030 in December 2024, following extensive collaboration and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. The Route Map sets out how we will deliver priority actions to accelerate more sustainable use of our resources across the waste hierarchy. It takes a whole system approach to deliver coordinated, properly sequenced actions, designed to deliver cumulative impact and wider benefits to Scotland.

The Route Map can be viewed at the following link - Scotland's circular economy and waste route map to 2030 - gov.scot

Extended producer responsibility for packaging funding will be paid directly to local authorities by PackUK (the scheme administrator) and it will be for each local authority to decide how it manages this funding. Under the Verity House Agreement, local government funding in Scotland will not be ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so. However, the purpose of packaging EPR funding - to pay for the cost of managing household packaging waste - is clearly set out in legislation. There will be no reduction in the local government finance settlement as a result of extended producer responsibility for packaging payments in the first year of the scheme (2025-26).

The development of the UK-wide Digital Waste Tracking (DWT) is progressing and an update which will include an implementation timeline will be released by DEFRA in June.

Local authorities are engaged with the development process. Recently, members of the DEFRA digital project team met with a selection of local authorities from Scotland in order to learn more about their specific user needs.

The Scottish Government recognises the investment and funding challenges associated with the transition to a net zero and climate adapted economy. Meeting the costs will require close working between the public and private sectors domestically, as well as with our trading partners. Delivering our climate and economic growth ambitions will provide opportunities that support jobs, trade, investment, and growth.

The Carbonomics report notes that promoting local manufacturing (deglobalisation and protectionism) can increase costs for certain clean technologies, thus slowing the overall rate of global decarbonisation. There is therefore a trade-off between fostering domestic industries and ensuring affordable clean energy solutions from abroad.

Global challenges require global solutions; it is through cooperation, not isolation, that the world will tackle the climate crisis. Scotland is committed to a rules-based trade agenda and supports open, fair, and transparent trade. Trade should also be a lever to increase progress towards a green economy, including through increasing trade in environmental goods and services.

The Scottish Government’s quota application initiative for West of Scotland cod has awarded quota to 35 Scottish vessels. These applications seek to incentivise the use of selective fishing gear and fishing techniques or vessels with a reduced impact on the environment.

Regarding the use of selective fishing gear: across 35 vessels there is a wide range of gear configurations, some examples of gear to be used by successful applicants include:

• Vessels greater than 12 metres in length operating with bottom trawls or nets with catches comprising more than 10% of haddock, cod and skates and rays combined using a cod end in excess of the 120mm minimum.
• Vessels with catches comprising more than 30% of Norway lobster using a mesh size between 100-119mm and a square mesh panel in excess of the 160mm minimum.
• Engaging in area-based selectivity, where if vessels encounter shoals of fish below the minimum conservation reference size, they alert other vessels and move on.
• Use of long-lines.

Regarding the use of fishing techniques or vessels with a reduced impact on the environment, successful applicants provided information covering these areas:

• Modern vessels or engine upgrades leading to improved fuel efficiency.
• The use of Tori lines, acoustic deterrents, brightly coloured nets or particular gear deployment strategies to minimise interactions with non-target species such as seabirds and cetaceans.
• Use of refrigerants with reduced Global Warming Potential.
• Use of smaller or semi-pelagic trawl doors.
• Use of shorter ground gear.
• Landing catches into West of Scotland ports.
• Litter and waste management and identifying circular economy destinations for waste products.

Our Fisheries Management Strategy sets out actions to support the fishing fleet to modernise, and for appropriate use to be made of new and additional technology, including remote electronic monitoring (REM). As part of this the Scottish Government has already delivered on our commitment to introduce REM requirements for pelagic and scallop vessels, with legislation being passed in June 2024. The legislation can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2024/165/contents/made

Our commitment to improve the inshore fisheries evidence base through the use of appropriate and proportionate onboard electronic technology monitoring on under 12 metre vessels is currently being progressed.

Further rollout of remote electronic monitoring to other fleets, including offshore trawl vessels, is under review and options will be developed alongside our Future Catching Policy.

Scotland was the first nation in the UK to introduce a ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste. As set out in Regulation 11 of the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003 the ban comes into force on 31 December 2025

The Heat in Buildings Programme was subject of an Audit Scotland review in 2023, with the findings of this review published in February 2024. This publication can be found at https://audit.scot/publications/decarbonising-heat-in-homes.

Additionally, all Scottish Government expenditure is subject to audit through the sampling of annual accounts.