Question reference: S6W-07039
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have completed courses through the National Energy Efficiency Transition Support and Heat Pump Training Fund since its inception.
Answer
As outlined in the National Transition Training Fund Year 1 report published in February 2022, 60 individuals were supported through the Energy Efficiency Transition Support and Heat Pump Training Fund in the 2021-22 academic year.
In Year 2, the project aims to support 455 individuals. The Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) commenced the project in December 2021 offering colleges the opportunity to participate in the project. Delivery of courses began in January 2022 and will run until the end of the current academic year. We will report on final outcomes upon completion of the Fund in August 2022.
Another training opportunity related to heat pumps is the Sustainable Energy Supply Chain Programme at Energy Saving Trust, which manages and administers the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. This fund provides grants to assist Scottish SMEs installing heat pumps in achieving MCS certification for the first time. This funding is for installers who are not currently MCS certified for heat pumps and who want to become MCS certified for any heat pump technology (air, water, or ground source). The fund pays for 75% of the initial fees required, up to a maximum of £1,000, for both the certification and consumer codes of conduct which installers are required to join in order to become MCS certified. The fund started in September 2021 and will continue to run until March 2023 or until funds fully invested.
Question reference: S6W-07105
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity's comment to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, on 25 January 2022, that glass is not to be mechanically crushed as part of its Deposit Return Scheme, whether this replaces any previous plans for such glass to be crushed in reverse vending machines (RVMs); whether this will require different and more expensive RVMs to be used; what inquiries the minister or her officials have made on the cost implications of requiring that glass not be crushed; whether this will necessitate more frequent collections of glass recyclate, and, if so, what consideration has been given to that and any consequential costs and additional carbon emissions, and what its position is on whether it or Circularity Scotland have obtained sufficient information in order to be certain that this will not require additional costs to be incurred in operating the scheme.
Answer
It has never been the intention that glass collected through our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) be crushed, recognising that this would not be compatible with closed-loop recycling. Therefore the environmental and economic modelling underpinning the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for DRS assumed that glass would not be crushed.
Question reference: S6W-07091
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the impact of the proposed Deposit Return Scheme on producers in Scotland, how many producers it estimates are operating in Scotland, and of those, how many it consulteddirectly.
Answer
We estimate that 4,100 businesses will qualify as producers for the purposes of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).
We have extensively consulted the drinks producer sector during the development and implementation of our DRS. Our Implementation Advisory Group included a range of representatives of the sector, and drinks producers, like any stakeholder, were consulted through the two consultations on DRS that ran from June-September 2018 and September-December 2019.
Question reference: S6W-07090
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether consideration has been given to the potential impact of the proposed Deposit Return Scheme on the wholesale sector, and, in light of the information contained in table 1, page 12, paragraph 46 of the Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), published in December 2021, for what reason it did not consult any wholesale businesses.
Answer
We have kept the wholesale sector closely involved in discussions relating to the development and implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), in particular through engagement with the Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA).
As table 1, page 12, paragraph 46 of the amended Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for DRS makes clear, the SWA was consulted as part of the policy-development process that led to the amended BRIA.
Question reference: S6W-07043
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme will reopen for new applications for development funding and capital funding.
Answer
Applications for development and capital funding are open. More information can be found on the Local Energy Scotland website here www.localenergyscot.org . Loan and grant capital funding is currently available to communities developing renewable energy, heat decarbonisation, and local energy system projects through the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).
Funding is dependent on project needs and type. The CARES team work with projects from inception to completion and continue to offer a flexible package of support to a wide range of renewable energy projects and will also soon offer support through a framework of specialised technical consultants to make it quicker and easier for communities to explore options. More information on this will be published shortly on the Local Energy Scotland website.
From April 2022 CARES will also give greater focus to the decarbonisation of heat in buildings in line with the ambitions set out in our Heat in Buildings Strategy.
Question reference: S6W-07104
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the comment by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity at the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 25 January 2022 that the Deposit Return Scheme “will significantly increase the quantity and quality of glass recyclate”, what the precise evidence is on which this comment is based, and whether it will publish this evidence.
Answer
The Strategic Environmental Assessment Addendum, published on 14 December 2021, shows that our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will increase the quantity of glass recyclate by more than 1.3 megatonnes over 25 years. It is available here: Supporting documents - A Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland: Strategic Environmental Assessment Addendum - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
I understand that Circularity Scotland Ltd intends to collect and transport glass separately from other materials under Scotland’s DRS. This will reduce contamination which is currently a problem with glass collected at the kerbside. I am therefore confident that our DRS will significantly increase the quality of glass recyclate.
Question reference: S6W-07101
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what efforts it has made to increase the proportion of glass that has been fully recycled and processed in Scotland, and what effect the implementation of the Deposit Return Scheme will have on these efforts.
Answer
Our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is complementary to extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, which we are working with the other UK administrations to introduce. Both DRS and packaging EPR will drive higher recycling rates for glass, creating a significant opportunity for the Scottish glass reprocessing industry.
Question reference: S6W-07100
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that waste captured by the Deposit Return Scheme could be processed outside Scotland, what assessment it has made of whether the economic benefits of a closed-loop glass recycling system would accrue to businesses based in Scotland.
Answer
I am not aware of any reports that glass captured through our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) could be processed outside Scotland.
There is a significant reprocessing industry for glass in Scotland. While it will be for Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) as scheme administrator to enter into reprocessing agreements on a commercial basis, I would note that the cost of transporting glass means the Scottish glass industry should have a competitive advantage due to the closer physical proximity to CSL.
I therefore anticipate that our glass industry will benefit from the increased quantity and quality of glass recyclate that DRS will make available.
Question reference: S6W-07030
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the non-commercially sensitive copy of the 2020-28 Northern Isles Ferry Services contract with Serco.
Answer
We are aiming for a non-commercially sensitive contract to be available for publication by Summer 2022, once the necessary administrative work has been completed.
Question reference: S6W-07003
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
- Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what publicly available data exists to demonstrate how well patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) are being managed following an initial episode, and whether this data is being used to facilitate the optimal management, including condition prevention, of patients at risk of recurrent VTE.
Answer
There is currently no publicly available data regarding how patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) are managed following an initial episode.
