Meeting of the Parliament 20 March 2024
I am grateful to the member for raising that very good point. I have committed to co-design with local authorities of how we move forward with implementing a more standardised service. That will require some investment funding. Funding will also come from extended producer responsibility for packaging, which I just mentioned, through which local authorities will be funded to deliver and operate effective and efficient recycling of packaging. Of course, some capital funding will be required as well, which will follow on from the strategic waste fund and the recycling improvement fund that we already have.
One element of the co-design that I have committed to with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities is looking at other revenue-raising opportunities, such as help for local authorities to collect better-quality recyclate, which they can use to generate increased revenue.
Turning to issues that were raised in the stage 1 report, I am pleased that the NZET Committee supported a broad range of provisions in the bill, and I note its concerns about the bill’s framework nature. However, I hope that the committee accepts the need to react quickly to emerging issues. Using delegated powers to make regulations allows us to do that, as we are seeing currently in the case of single-use vapes. We will publish the consultation on charging for single-use disposable cups in the coming weeks, which I hope will assure the Parliament of the approach that we will take when using the powers in the bill.
I also acknowledge the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s concerns in relation to the financial memorandum, and I recognise its need to scrutinise the bill’s costs and benefits. I am committed to updating both committees as we work with stakeholders to design the detail of the secondary legislation.
That process is already under way. Since the bill was launched, I have met COSLA’s spokesperson, Councillor Gail Macgregor, on several occasions. I am pleased with that strong collaboration and with COSLA’s support for the bill’s aims. In Councillor Macgregor’s most recent letter, she stated that she is
“delighted that we are finding such a constructive way of addressing our prime concerns”
and that she sees this as
“an excellent and leading example of working in the spirit of and implementing the Verity House Agreement”.