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: S6W-38488

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36825 by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025, whether local authorities will be permitted to use funds from the extended producer responsibility scheme to cover payments to emissions trading schemes.

In line with the Verity House Agreement, funding resulting from extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) will not be ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so. However, the purpose of the funding, to pay for the cost of managing household packaging waste - is clearly set out in legislation.

Payments under pEPR will support the costs of effective and efficient collection systems for household packaging waste. This includes the costs of incineration. Payments will be adjusted in future years to account for additional costs that local authorities may face, including those incurred under the proposed expansion of the emissions trading scheme.

Question reference: S6W-38448

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37767 by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025, what assessment has been made of the proportion of (a) public bodies, excluding local authorities, and (b) private sector businesses that are ready to comply with the ban on municipal biodegradable waste to landfill by sending to another facility in Scotland.

Scottish Government officials, supported by Zero Waste Scotland, are in regular contact with representatives of public agencies as well as private sector businesses to help ensure readiness for the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste.

This engagement will continue, in order to ensure the effective implementation of the ban as part of our progress towards achieving our net zero ambitions.

Question reference: S6W-38449

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-37774 by Gillian Martin on 3 June 2025, what the estimated cost will be across all local authorities of introducing household collections for recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging.

Zero Waste Scotland undertook an options appraisal in 2024/25 to assess the impact of introducing kerbside collections for plastic film and flexibles in terms of recycling tonnage, carbon impacts and costs. This will be published later in 2025.

At a national level, the analysis projected that collecting film and flexibles loose with other plastics as part of existing collections would lead to a saving of £680k per annum due to reduced disposal costs, as recycling films and flexibles is cheaper than current costs for disposal. Alternatively, the options appraisal projected that if plastic film and flexible packaging is collected within a bag (to aid segregation at a material recovery facility), this would result in additional costs of £1.4million per annum nationally due to the cost to local authorities to purchase and provide bags to households. These estimates do not include costs related to modifications that may be required at waste transfer stations to segregate these materials.

The cost to local authorities for introducing household collections for recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging will vary between authorities, based on the approach they take to collecting these materials, existing service set-up, contractual arrangements and the reprocessor gate fee they are able to negotiate.

Question reference: S6W-38156

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) there is disposal capacity to treat all biodegradable municipal waste and (b) all biodegradable municipal waste will be treated in Scotland in 2026.

In October 2024, a report commissioned by the Scottish Government projected an initial treatment capacity shortfall for residual waste in Scotland of 600,000 tonnes when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste commences on 31 December 2025.

However, alongside further measures to reduce waste and promote recycling, the construction of planned infrastructure continues, helping to address this temporary gap; and available projections continue to indicate before turning into an estimated capacity surplus from 2027.

Officials continue to work with waste sector partners, including local authorities on these matters.

Question reference: S6W-38157

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it, its agencies, or anyone acting on its behalf have had discussions with parties outwith Scotland regarding treating municipal biodegradable waste after 31 December 2025.

The treatment and disposal of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) is the responsibility of those who collect this material – local authorities and private businesses.

However, as part of the Government-commission report published in October 2024 ("Landfill Ban Assurance Study"), commentary was provided on residual waste markets external to Scotland and their "capability to contribute towards managing any capacity deficit in Scotland from 2026".

Officials continue to work with waste sector partners, including local authorities on these matters.

Question reference: S6W-38270

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what subsidies are provided to publicly operated electric vehicle (EV) charge points run by ChargePlace Scotland.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million to develop ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) with the aim of encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles (EV). To grow CPS, Scottish Ministers have provided grant funding to over 400 organisations across the public, private and third sectors to install charge points and make them publicly available on the CPS network. The grantees are the owners of the charge points on CPS and responsible for tariffs, ongoing maintenance and upgrades. CPS’ role as the operator is to make them available to the public so that drivers can easily locate and pay for charging sessions.

As a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment Scotland now has over 6,900 public charge points. A target for 6,000 public charge points was met in October 2024, two years ahead of schedule.

In addition to investment in public charge points, Scottish Ministers have also provided over £19 million for the installation of over 23,000 lower powered charge points at homes and at workplaces, complementing the public charging network. Ministers remain committed to supporting drivers in the year ahead, setting aside further funding to support consumer incentive schemes for the installation of EV infrastructure at people’s homes, workplaces and public places.

Scottish Ministers’ vision: for the future of public EV charging and the accompanying both set out a clear direction for the future of EV infrastructure in Scotland. The Scottish Government will continue to enable increasing private sector investment, whilst targeting public funding towards those parts of Scotland less likely to benefit from standalone private sector investment in public EV charging. This includes the £30 million provided to local authorities through our EV Infrastructure Fund which is on track secure additional private sector investment in public EV charging and support the provision of a further 6,000 public charge points across Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-04195

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that up to 100 truckloads of Scotland's waste will be moved each day to England as a result of the landfill ban on biodegradable waste.

Question reference: S6O-04813

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support NHS Tayside to improve its physical infrastructure to help to deliver better health outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-38150

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the review of the provisions and requirements under the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020, which outlined its intention to "consult on a proposal to ban remote controlled training collars using static pulse as a stimulus", whether it will provide an update on the timeline and the expected launch date for such a consultation.

We are continuing to give the SAWC reports on remote control static pulse devices and other aversive training devices careful consideration, along with the findings of our review into whether further provisions for wearable static pulse training devices are required, which was undertaken as part of the review of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020. Once we have finished our deliberations, we will announce our timeline for a further consultation.

Question reference: S6W-38058

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 9 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the EU-UK agreement, whether it will seek discussions between the devolved administrations and the UK Government on whether the fixed quota allocation system is fit for purpose or requires a review and public consultation.