Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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.

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Question reference: S5W-32434

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31929 by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020, how many remanufactured products made in Scotland have been recognised as comparable or equivalent to new products by the EU, standards and certification organisations and others since 2016, and how many of those were achieved through it or its agencies lobbying and/or influencing through other means.

This information is not held centrally. The Scottish Institute for Remanufacture (SIR) has enabled 23 companies to deploy new manufacturing technologies and processes into their businesses in Scotland. The SIR and the University of Strathclyde have also worked with standard setting bodies to develop remanufacturing standards, influenced the creation of the European Remanufacturing Council, and had involvement with product specific steering committees.

Question reference: S5W-32344

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to the NHS national action plan to reduce food waste; which facilities the plan applies to, and what reduction in food waste it has achieved so far.

Food waste reduction is now a standing agenda item for the NHS Waste Management Steering Group and the Catering Services Experts Group. Both groups are working with Zero Waste Scotland to develop a food waste reduction strategy for NHS Scotland and a national action plan. The outputs from previously held workshops are being used, along with findings from pilot studies in key regional boards, to develop the national action plan and subsequent regional board plans. The plan will apply to all facilities within each board with focus on acute settings in the first instance, where food waste is most prevalent.

Question reference: S5W-32342

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many collaborations between businesses that generate food waste and those that can utilise food waste as a resource it has facilitated since 2013.

Since 2016, nine projects have been formally supported, through Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund, that utilise food and drink waste or by-products. Since 2016, Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Business Support Service has supported 15 SMEs in the pursuit of turning food waste or food by-product into secondary products. Additionally, support has been provided to targeted sectors under Zero Waste Scotland’s Food and Drink Advice and Support Service through the provision of food waste audits. Food waste audits have been provided to 30 bakeries and 10 breweries, identifying the opportunity to provide waste bread to breweries as a malt replacement in brewing amongst other waste prevention measures, including redistribution opportunities.

Question reference: S5W-32340

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) quantities and (b) types of suitable materials that have been diverted from the total food waste stream to other uses in each year since 2013.

Annual data is not available for the quantities or types of all materials diverted, but that we do have some data for priority materials. Materials that could have ended up in the food waste stream have been diverted through redistribution to people, to animals or to the bioeconomy. Zero Waste Scotland launched their Food Redistribution Matchmaking Service in July 2020 and this service looks to partner redistribution organisations with businesses who have surplus edible food to feed people.

Distillery by-products are an important feed for the livestock sector. In 2019 for instance, 112,000 tonnes of whisky by-products was diverted to animal feed. Food surplus from manufacturing, retail and hospitality and food service is also diverted to produce animal feed, 660,000 tonnes across the UK in 2015.

Fareshare receives some financial support from the Scottish Government and since 2014 has redistributed over 10,000 tonnes of surplus to people and away from the waste stream.

The response to S5W-32342 provides details of Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund, Circular Economy business Support Service and Food and Drink Advice and Support Services that relates to materials being diverted to the bio economy and therefore not entering the waste stream.

Inedible food waste that cannot be utilised for purposes higher up the hierarchy of food should be diverted to anaerobic digestion, composting and landspreading. Estimates of quantities of materials diverted from the food waste stream through anaerobic digestion and composting are shown in the table below:

Food waste diversion to:	2014 (tonnes)	2017 (tonnes)
Anaerobic digestion	128,789	141,651
Composting	32,000	34,300

Further research and evaluation regarding the composition of redistributed food and potential types and volumes of food going to waste after reaching redistribution organisations is underway.

Question reference: S5W-32341

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of the rural exemption for food waste.

Question reference: S5W-32552

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of (a) community and (b) national football authorities.

Question reference: S5W-32908

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been received for each of its COVID-19 Restrictions Funds, broken down by local authority area; how many of these (a) have been approved, (b) have been declined and (c) are awaiting a decision; whether it will update this information on a regular basis and, if so, how often it will provide these updates.

The Scottish Government is working closely with COSLA and all local authorities to deliver the Restrictions Fund, including monitoring arrangements to record the numbers of applications received and payments made. Information for Closure and Hardships Funds which applied for the period 9 October– 2 November is published on the Scottish Government website, and we will ensure this information is updated regularly.

Question reference: S5W-32501

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 9 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the financial support that it has provided to food redistribution charities in each year since 2013.

The Food Waste Reduction Action Plan (FWRAP) was published in April 2019. It sets out how Scotland can work towards achieving the target and reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill, including building on existing food redistribution activities.

Alongside taking positive action to reduce food waste, the Scottish Government has provided funding to FareShare, a national charity that distributes surplus and donated food from the food industry to community organisations.

Direct funding provided to FareShare is outlined in the following table.

Financial Year	Amount
2014-15	£241,649.00
2015-16	£258,351.00
2016-17	£250,000.00
2017-18	£200,000.00
2018-19	£750,000.00
2019-20	£905,855.65
2020-21	£2,354,932.00
Total	£4,960,787.65

These figures include Scottish Government funding which mitigated against the potential impact of the UK’s exit from the European Union . In 2018-19, FareShare were provided with £500,000 to purchase ambient, chilled and frozen food to support community food initiatives responding to food insecurity, bolstering community resilience to the impacts of a potential No Deal EU Exit. Following extension of the planned date for the UK’s exit from the EU, a further £500,000 of funding was committed during 2019-20.

These figures include funding to increase the capacity of the community food sector and extend FareShare reach to cover the Highlands and Islands in 2019-20. In addition to the figures above, a further £50,000 of direct funding was provided to FareShare’s regional lead organisation in Grampian, Community Food Initiatives North East (CFINE), to ensure they had sufficient warehouse capacity to support this growth.

These figures include £2.1m to support the purchase and distribution of additional food to community food organisations and food hubs as part of the Scottish Government’s response during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020-21.

Other Funding Streams

In addition to food insecurity funding, we have provided over £1.5 million to FareShare across 2018-21 to provide access to period products to low income families through its network of community organisations and groups. Almost 80,000 people have benefitted from this provision which represents around 25% of women and girls living in relative poverty. The funding is also supporting four Community Development Workers in FareShare’s main centres to break down barriers, and address stigma and embarrassment.

Spend on this work is laid out in the following table.

Financial Year	Amount
2018-19	£405,950
2019-20	£530,097
2020-21	£599,898
Total	£1,535,945

Question reference: S5W-32945

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the loans issued under the Home Energy Scotland Loan Scheme, (a) how many loans have been issued and (b) what the total value of (i) issued and (ii) repaid loans has been in each year since it launched.

The number of Home Energy Scotland loans issued, the value of those issued and the value of repaid loans, since its launch are:

Number of loans issued by year since launch of scheme

Year	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	Total
Number of loans issued	1173	1679	1352	4204

Value of loans issued by year since launch of scheme

Year	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	Total
Value of loans issued (£)	6,097,161	10,260,054	9,115,584	25,472,799

Total value of loan repayments since launch of scheme

Year	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	Total
Value of loan repayments (£)**	131,711	1,062,408	2,599,869	3,793,988

** Loan repayment periods can vary between 1 year and 12 years. It is policy to offer maximum repayment periods and then give customers choice as to whether to decrease this loan period or not.

Question reference: S5W-32697

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture that "up to £9 million of funding will help with the costs of re-furloughing staff by supporting the 20% salary contribution required by the UK Government" and that "payment mechanisms for additional support on top of grants to support the top up costs of furlough currently met by business are being identified", when it expects to announce details of a payment mechanism to deliver additional support to businesses on top of existing commitments to help them meet their furlough contributions.

Businesses that have already applied for a Closure Grant will be contacted by their local authority directly to add the furlough support to their application. Any closure grant applications received before 5pm on 3 November will be considered to include the application for the furlough support grant. LAs will carry out a retrospective exercise of businesses that have already applied for the Closure Grant to identify those applications containing sufficient information to enable an award to be made and also proactively contact the other businesses (whether a Closure Grant has been awarded or not) to invite an application for the furlough support grant.

Any business that think they may be eligible can contact their local authority to check until 30 November.