Seòmar agus comataidhean

On 21 June 2024, I represented the Scottish Government at the Summit meeting of the British-Irish Council hosted by the Government of Isle of Man and chaired by the Chief Minister – Alfred Cannan. The meeting was attended by Ministers from all eight of the BIC Member Administrations.

The theme of the Summit focussed on “Unlocking the Economic and Social Opportunities of Renewables Across These Islands ” which offered the opportunity to share and learn from the range of initiatives being taken across these islands to enable the benefits of renewable energy to be realised across jurisdictions, with Ministers noting the importance of a just transition to net zero.

On the Latest Political Developments item, the Council welcomed the return of the Northern Ireland Ministers to the table following the restoration of the Executive. Ministers also reflected on international issues including the ongoing situations in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza as well as issues closer to home such as the continuing cost crisis. I took the opportunity to set out Scotland’s missions of eradicating child poverty, building the economy and supporting jobs, improving the health service and addressing the climate crisis.

I noted that the Scottish Government will host the next Summit in December.

During the Summit, I held bilateral meetings with the Taoiseach, the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister who was joined by Junior Minister of the Executive, Aisling Reilly in the absence of the First Minister of Northern Ireland, and the Chief Minister of the Isle of Man.

The Communiqué that was issued by the British-Irish Council after the meeting can be found on its website at: britishirishcouncil.org

41st British-Irish Council Summit

Isle of Man, 21 June 2024

Communiqué

The British-Irish Council (BIC) held its 41 st Summit today hosted by the Isle of Man Government and discussed a range of political and economic developments across their administrations. The Summit meeting was chaired by Isle of Man Government Chief Minister Alfred Cannan MHK, who welcomed several Heads of Administration attending a BIC Summit for the first time.

Unlocking the Economic and Social Opportunities of Renewables Across These Islands

The Council discussed various ways administrations are developing initiatives to realise the opportunities of renewable energy to stimulate economic growth and support decarbonisation efforts.

Latest Political Developments

The Council warmly welcomed the return of the Northern Ireland Executive to the British-Irish Council table, as well as the restoration of the devolved institutions and the North South Ministerial Council. The Council also noted that 2024 marks the 25 th anniversary of the British-Irish Council following its establishment under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and commended its work on promoting positive relations across these islands.

The Council also reflected on a range of developments across their administrations and internationally, and on topics of mutual interest.

Next Summit Meeting

The Council noted that the next BIC Summit will be hosted by the Scottish Government.

BIC Secretariat

21 June 2024

Plenary Participants

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-27838 on 7 June 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 .

The Scottish Government is also working on a joint 4-nations consultation on digital waste tracking which notes our intention to track waste through to end of waste products or materials that are produced from waste. The digital waste tracking will improve the quality of waste data and make it easier to identify opportunities to keep materials in use for as long as possible and ensure nothing is wasted, including material streams within electrical and electronic equipment.

The Scottish Government is taking significant steps to imbed the principles of a Circular Economy, enabling the increased recovery of sustainable materials, including those limiting emissions along entire material and product lifecycles. Within our draft Circular Economy Route Map the Scottish Government has also committed to creating a Product Stewardship Strategy, with the aim of minimising the health, safety, environmental and social impacts of products. We will focus on policies and activities which have the greatest environmental and economic impact while continuing to encourage best practice by all businesses and consumers, with the aim to produce, consume and manage resources as effectively as possible. We are engaging with research from ZWS, SEPA and other partners, along with looking at best practice internationally to ensure the policy interventions in this area are not only effective but as impactful as possible.

Alongside this, the 2023 Programme for Government outlined that we would continue to work on how we will help businesses and investors to realise the enormous economic opportunities of the global transition to net zero and create good, well-paid jobs across Scotland. Work is already happening at pace in various areas including how best to use and support research with the aim of capturing economic benefit from the transition to net zero.

Between 28 December 2023 and 7 March 2024, the Scottish Government, along with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments, held a consultation on reforming the producer responsibility system for waste electricals and electronic equipment (WEEE). This consultation sought views on a number of policy reforms. Along with this our Circular Economy Route Map the Scottish Government has also committed to creating a Product Stewardship Strategy, with the aim of minimising the health, safety, environmental and social impacts of products and packaging. Recognising the significant e-waste impact of single-use vapes, The Scottish Government is also introducing regulations to ban these products, incentivising more resource-efficient design and ensuring any vapes on the market are both rechargeable and refillable.

Effective product stewardship policies can help to meet our objective of having a circular economy. They reduce waste by decreasing the materials needed for production, and by increasing product lifespan. They increase recycling by providing incentives to collect, re-use and recycling products and their component parts. They help keep products and materials within the circular economy and reduce waste to landfill.

We will focus on policies and activities that have the greatest environmental and economic impact while continuing to encourage best practice by all businesses and consumers, with the aim to produce, consume and manage resources as effectively as possible. The Product Stewardship Strategy will set out a clear, cohesive approach to tackling the environmental and social impacts of products placed on the Scottish market, making the most of opportunities within the competence of the Scottish Government to reduce the environmental impacts of products and goods, and being clear where this requires further action from the UK Government.

While the Scottish Government recognises the need to ensure that we have effective infrastructure and technologies to enable the increased recovery of critical minerals, we acknowledge the complexities of critical mineral markets. Data is often not readily available, markets can be volatile, and supply chains are fraught with environmental, social and governance issues.

Better data availability is in all our interests to support well-functioning markets and responsible, traceable supply chains, to help de-risk investments and development of new projects. We are working with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments and regulators to implement a UK-wide mandatory digital waste tracking service. The digital waste tracking service will improve the quality of waste data and make it easier to identify opportunities to keep materials in use for as long as possible and ensure nothing is wasted.