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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: S6O-02061

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on what progress it has made in preparing for the operation of the Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6O-02031

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture minister has had with Historic Environment Scotland regarding the organisation's Waste and Resources Plan, including any potential impact of the Deposit Return Scheme on its operations.

Question reference: S6W-14614

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with Circularity Scotland, in light of the reported views by producers that the Deposit Return Scheme Registration process should be extended due to insufficient detail within the text of the agreements they will be required to sign.

The Scottish Government maintains regular contact with Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) at both Ministerial and official levels.

Business can continue to register with CSL. If they are concerned about being able to meet their obligations, including those who have concerns about the producer agreements or other matters related to the registration process, should contact CSL for advice and guidance as soon as possible. They can do so via their dedicated helpline or through their website.

Question reference: S6W-15414

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what role local authorities will be expected to play in monitoring biodiversity at a local level, and what support, resources and funding will be available to them to carry out any such monitoring.

Local Authorities are a key partner in delivering the ambitious aspirations set out in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. However, at the present time, they have a limited role in biodiversity monitoring. Some Local Authorities do host Local Records Centres, who gather biodiversity data from volunteer groups and individuals and make it available to a range of users. The Scottish Government and NatureScot are currently funding the Better Biodiversity Project, which aims to encourage community involvement in biodiversity data collection and put Local Records Centres on a more sustainable footing for the longer term. This in turn supports Local Authorities in meeting their Biodiversity Duty.

Question reference: S6W-14618

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that producers are considering seeking legal advice over Circularity Scotland’s reported inability to provide necessary information about the Deposit Return Scheme, creating a barrier to registration, and thus impacting their ability to sell in Scotland.

I urge producers to begin their registration for the scheme if they haven’t already and contact the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland, for advice and guidance.

CSL has recently run a series of information workshops across the country to enable business affected by DRS to learn more about the scheme and an online webinar is available for those who could not attend. CSL also has a trained team of advisers who can support individual businesses in getting registered and ready for DRS.

Question reference: S6T-01253

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Circularity Scotland expects to make £57 million a year by the public failing to return containers, and that this is part of the company's business model.

Question reference: S6W-15410

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what budgetary considerations it has given to ensure that biosecurity concerns are properly resourced within its biodiversity strategy and planning of the biodiversity delivery plan.

The Biodiversity Strategy is not the primary vehicle for addressing biosecurity issues, although clearly there are related issues and impacts which stress the need to mainstream biodiversity across the full range of Scottish Government policy.

The Biodiversity Strategy sets out a long-term, high-level ambition and Vision for 2045. Delivering that Vision is supported by a series of Outcomes across a range of overlapping ecosystems and land use types.

The Strategy also includes 33 Priority Actions which include, of relevance to the question:

Implement Scottish Plan for INNS surveillance, prevention and control, and secure wider support measures to enable effective INNS removal
Support surveillance and monitoring to support managing risks around pathogens and disease in wild bird populations
Develop a Biodiversity Investment Plan to direct how we address the Finance Gap for nature
Maintain and seek to increase investment in nature restoration through our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund.

A Delivery Plan is now being developed jointly by Scottish Government and NatureScot officials, drawing on engagement from key policy areas and across a wider network which includes expert academic input alongside significant stakeholder engagement.

Each iteration of the Delivery Plan will include estimated costs and will be reviewed in light of monitoring data to demonstrate the impact of actions taken so far.

The Biodiversity Investment Plan will direct how we address the finance gap for nature. It will ensure that investment is strategic, planned and focused on agreed priorities and will assist in securing responsible private investment in Scotland’s natural capital funding.

Question reference: S6W-14631

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that Circularity Scotland has not given any indication of when its portal will reopen, following initial registration, for producers to make amendments to the stock-keeping units, dimensions or weights of their products, in order to remain in compliance should their product range change.

The producer registration remains open for producers to register ( https://circularityscotland.com/producers/registration/ ).

Any producers who have not yet registered are encouraged to do so and can upload product details as part of the registration process.

Producers who have already completed the registration process will be able to add or amend product details using a self-service portal which will be available late Spring, well in advance of the scheme start date. This portal will remain open to allow producers to amend product details going forward.

Question reference: S6W-14630

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of civil and criminal remedies available to SEPA to prosecute those that are non-compliant with the Deposit Return Scheme.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) already has a range of civil sanctions, such as fixed monetary penalties or enforcement undertakings, which it can impose as part of its enforcement of a wider range of existing environmental legislation.

Civil sanctions mean that SEPA has a flexible range of enforcement tools available to deal with any breach of environmental legislation. The Lord Advocate has issued guidance to SEPA on its use of civil sanctions which can be found at Lord Advocates guidelines to SEPA: use of enforcement measures under the regulatory reform (Scotland) act 2014.

In terms of criminal remedies, SEPA would refer such instances to Police Scotland or the relevant police service elsewhere in the UK.

Question reference: S6W-15412

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 9 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14294 by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023, in relation to each local authority, for which specific year was the last full year of data available prior to modelling, and, in cases where such data was not available, what period was used instead.