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We know that shielding can have a detrimental impact on people’s lives, families and physical and mental wellbeing. Protecting people who are at the highest risk from COVID-19 is a priority for the Scottish Government. At this time we do not believe that asking people to return to shielding is the best way to protect them. The best way to do so is to reduce the spread of the virus in our communities. We have introduced new measures which must be followed by everyone in society.

Our clinical advisers continue to keep the shielding advice under consideration and any changes will be influenced by many factors such as the range of emerging evidence and the progress of the pandemic in Scotland.

Scottish Ministers will continue to take an evidence-based approach. We continue to engage with the UK Government and other devolved administrations to ensure that we learn from emerging evidence and the measures taken in other parts of Europe and around the world.

Homeworking from the onset of the pandemic has been and continues to be part of our wider public health response. By working from home, workers and employers are playing a vital role in helping suppress the virus, and in ensuring that our transport network remains safe.

We know that the vast majority of employers are complying with current homeworking guidance on a voluntary basis and we will continue to monitor this. As we have seen a worrying rise in the rate of transmission over the past few weeks we are considering options for placing a legal duty on employers to allow homeworking where it is possible. The introduction of any such duty would be on the basis of public health advice.

We must continue to limit the opportunity for the virus to spread and one of those measures is the continuation of homeworking.

The Scottish Institute for Remanufacturing (SIR) officially launched on 21 January 2015. Since 2015, SIR has funded 40 collaborative projects between industry and higher education institutions, at a value of over £800,000 with several projects still in progress. Currently 20 of these are available in case-study format on the SIR website at: . Other case studies will be published as projects are completed.

No detailed analysis of the impact on running costs for landfill operators to provide capacity for biodegradable waste after 2021 has been carried out. However, we engaged widely with stakeholders, including landfill operators and trade associations, before extending the deadline on the ban on municipal waste to landfill from 2021 to 2025, and no concerns around the costs of providing capacity were raised.

Scottish Government officials currently take part in monthly meetings with officials from the UK, Northern Ireland and Wales governments to discuss producer responsibility. Scottish Ministers have also met twice with their counterparts in the other Governments to discuss deposit return schemes, a form of producer responsibility, since 2016.

Through regular dialogue and engagement at UK level, Scottish Ministers worked to ensure the UK position taken forward to EU negotiations properly reflected Scottish priorities, including in relation to the delivery of a more circular economy.

The Scottish Government supports those regulatory changes introduced by the EU to protect our finite natural resources and improve the way we manage products at end of life. On 3 September, I met with Virginijus Sinkevicius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, to discuss a number of matters including the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and forthcoming legislative agenda.

We also carry out engagement through Zero Waste Scotland including providing evidence from the Scottish context, policy research into circular products and packaging design, and contributing to relevant European fora.

This information is not held centrally.

Some data are available for Revolve certified organisations. Revolve is Scotland’s National Reuse Quality Standard and Revolve stores are supported to work to key standards, and are committed to quality.

In 2018-19 sales through Revolve certified community stores reported to Zero Waste Scotland were circa £34 million. There were over 780 full time staff employed and 192,590 volunteer hours from 1,406 volunteers recorded in those same organisations, and approximately 35,000 tonnes of material was estimated to be diverted from landfill.

This information is not held centrally. Zero Waste Scotland has focused on identifying the potential for establishing biorefining hubs in Scotland that could transform a range of materials. In 2017, a research study was undertaken by Zero Waste Scotland to understand the bioresource arisings and availability for biorefining in Scotland:

The findings of this study have been used by Zero Waste Scotland, the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre and Scottish Enterprise to help inform a number of businesses on the potential to establish biorefining facilities in Scotland. Several businesses have benefitted through this information and are progressing plans to develop facilities in Scotland.

The Biorefinery Roadmap for Scotland – Building a Sustainable Future sets out Scottish Enterprise’s approach to the sector: .

This information is not held centrally as there is no specific standard industrial classification of economic activities (SIC) code for remanufacturing activities carried out in the UK or Scotland. Zero Waste Scotland published a report estimating Scottish remanufacturing activities in 2015: . A second, similar study is planned to provide comparable data but the timing of this is yet to be decided.

The Scottish Institute for Manufacturing (SIR) does not regularly lobby bodies or organisations. The key purpose of the SIR is to play a pivotal role in transitioning to a circular economy within the remanufacturing sector by stimulating and funding innovation, supporting companies to exploit opportunities, and by growing capabilities, capacity and profitability within remanufacturing in Scotland.