Meeting of the Parliament 28 June 2023
The regulations that we are discussing today were laid on 17 May, before the UK Government’s last-minute decision on the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 after almost two years of talks, which imposed unworkable conditions on our deposit return scheme, leaving it fatally undermined.
Without approval of the changes that the regulations make, the go-live date would remain 16 August this year, which nobody in the chamber wants to see happen. The regulations change the go-live date to March next year. As I have previously explained, the UK Government’s intervention means that that date, in turn, is no longer possible. I have committed to bring before Parliament further amending regulations in line with parliamentary procedures and timelines to change the date to 1 October 2025, reflecting the decision that the Government was forced to take on 7 June to delay the start of the DRS and align with England.
Although that process is imperfect, it should be noted that options were extremely limited, given the last-minute, unexpected nature of the UK Government’s intervention, which meant that the regulations that Parliament previously passed were no longer deliverable. If the Scottish Government had withdrawn those regulations and laid a new set, it would have meant seeking the agreement of Parliament to an expedited scrutiny process before the summer recess, removing all normal committee and parliamentary scrutiny time, or suggesting that Parliament should be recalled. Neither of those options was felt to be appropriate.
As well as changing the start date, the regulations simplify the scheme for small businesses, in particular. Those changes came from constructive dialogue with businesses. The UK Government has indicated that similar provisions are likely to be made in the English scheme. Although we may need to adjust the regulations again eventually, in order to align with the UK Government once it has decided its scheme, I believe that it is important not to lose the progress that we have made in Scotland through positive, constructive engagement with business.