Seòmar agus comataidhean

Scottish Water continues to deliver a high quality service throughout Scotland as demonstrated in its Annual Report for 2023-24, available here. Compliance with its statutory obligations is independently regulated by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland (DWQR), the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Scottish Water is required to meet strict drinking water standards and its performance is reported on annually by the DWQR; available here. It must also ensure the water it discharges into the environment meets strict standards; SEPA’s water environment classification is available here and Scottish Water publishes the information it provides to SEPA here. WICS’ most recent report on its performance in the 2021-27 regulatory period is available here. Ministers meet with Scottish Water and its regulators routinely to discuss a variety of matters.

Work is underway to deliver the 84 actions in the Scottish Government’s Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 Strategy which runs until 2026, with 65 actions delivered to date. Updates on delivery will be reported in the next annual progress report due to be published in 2025.

Consideration is underway on the impact of the £0.1 million reduction in the Air Quality budget which formed part of a recent savings exercise.

Funding for flood resilience is distributed to local authorities through the general capital grant. The allocation mechanism is agreed by Ministers and COSLA Leaders on a national basis.

The current distribution agreement is that 80% of available funding is allocated to a list of prioritised flood protection schemes, and 20% allocated to local authorities to fund other actions within Flood Risk Management Plans.

Since 2008, the Scottish Government has made available £42 million per year to local authorities to invest in flood risk management actions – a commitment that is in place until 2026. The 2020 Programme for Government also committed an extra £150 million for flood risk management.

Whitesands is one of the 31 flood protection schemes eligible to receive this funding, as long as the scheme remains viable. 15 such schemes have already been completed across Scotland, with a further 5 due to be completed in 2024.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“the EPA’’) regulates waste management, including the handling and disposal of non-biodegradable waste. SEPA and local authorities both have statutory enforcement functions under the EPA. Any event that results in waste generation, such as lantern festivals, must ensure proper disposal of waste to avoid environmental harm.

In addition, under section 87 of the EPA it is an offence to throw down, drop or otherwise deposit, and then leave, litter in an area which is open to the air and to which the public has access. Local authorities have powers to issue fixed penalty notices if they have reason to believe a littering offence has been committed. Section 89 of the EPA places duties on certain organisations to keep land free from litter, as far as is practical. The 2018 Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse gives practical guidance on fulfilling these duties.

Many Local Authorities have put restrictions in place to prevent the release of sky lanterns and helium balloons on Council owned property and land and when an event is supported by the local authority.

The Duty of care: code of practice for managing controlled waste sets out duties of care for disposal of waste and specific information for waste producers. This includes complying with special requirements for the disposal of waste batteries and waste electrical and electronic equipment which are covered by producer take back schemes.

There are no environmental regulations which specifically control the release of non-biodegradable material in sky lanterns. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 includes the offences of littering and offences relating to waste management, including the handling and disposal of non-biodegradable waste. Any event that results in waste generation, such as lantern festivals, must ensure proper disposal of waste to avoid environmental harm. These offences may be relevant where the release of lanterns was determined to have met the statutory definitions for those offences, which would be determinable on a case-by-case basis.

Organisers of public events, like lantern festivals, are required to ensure waste materials are collected and disposed of in a manner that minimises environmental impact. The Duty of care: code of practice for managing controlled waste provides statutory guidance on the duties that must be complied with by anyone who produces, keeps, imports or manages controlled waste in Scotland.

Organisers of events, including lantern festivals, must comply with the legislation, and will be subject to enforcement if offences are committed. Zero Waste Scotland’s guide “How to Plan and Deliver Environmentally Sustainable Events” provides guidance for event organisers and suppliers. This is available at https://www.visitscotland.org/events/advice-materials/sustainability#sustainable.

To support future planning decisions, we accepted the review’s recommendation to develop an indicative capacity cap. It is important that any indicative cap is as robust as possible and developing such a cap is a significant piece of work.

For that reason, we are undertaking work to improve the quality of data on waste to support the development of an indicative cap. This includes, working with other governments of the UK to implement mandatory Digital Waste Tracking from April 2025, which will provide a step-change in the quality of Scottish waste data, and engaging with partners, including ZWS and SEPA, to draw together key waste composition, carbon and environmental impact data insights.

Together, these initiatives will provide invaluable data to support the accurate forecasting of Scotland’s waste infrastructure needs and the development of an indicative cap. Further information on these developments can be found here:

Digital Waste Tracking Consultation Response.

Outcome of the Household Waste Composition Analysis.

Our draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map, published 18 January 2024, set out further detail and associated timescales on the steps we will take to minimise the environmental and climate impacts of waste, including the development of an indicative capacity cap.

Transport Scotland has already allocated over £145 million of our 2024-25 budget to delivery partners across both Active Travel infrastructure and behaviour change. 2024-25 is the first year for a local authority and Regional Transport Partnerships led delivery model for infrastructure and behaviour change programmes that will encourage a shift towards more walking, wheeling and cycling. This funding remains in place.

The utmost importance is placed on balancing the Scottish Government’s budget each financial year. The Scottish Government and the whole of the public sector face a financial position that is extremely challenging. As with all programmes across Scottish Government, further active travel funding will need to be considered in this context for 2024-25. As the active and sustainable travel funding referred to in the Cabinet Secretary for Finance’s Pre-Budget Fiscal Update had not been allocated, no organisations nor local authorities will see their previously confirmed 2024-25 funding reduced as a result.

The NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022– 2026 aims to maximise plant-based options in the provision of food in Hospitals across NHS Scotland, whilst ensuring that nutritional needs are met in line with the Food in Hospitals specification.

Two incineration facilities, both of which already held planning permission at the time of the incineration review, have become operational since June 2022.

These facilities have permitted capacities of 270,000 and 150,000 tonnes per annum but their operational capacity is likely to be less. For example, data available through SEPA’s ‘waste sites and capacity tool’ shows facilities typically operate at less than their permitted capacity.

The Scottish Government provided funding in 2023-24 to carry out a piece of quantitative research to establish a baseline measure of public awareness and understanding of the symptoms and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (including awareness of FAST (Face, Arm, Speech, Time), to track progress over time should communications activity be undertaken in this area, and to inform and consider the case for public information campaigns in relation to cardiovascular disease.

This research did not provide any evidence to support the use or not of BE FAST. The decision not to adopt BE FAST was based on existing research and the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke for the UK and Ireland and is aligned with the stance of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, Stroke Association and the rest of the United Kingdom’s health services.