Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government addresses the payment of the real Living Wage in all relevant contacts by having regard to the Statutory Guidance on Addressing Fair Work Practices, including the Living Wage, in Procurement. Where a Fair Work criterion is included in a procurement process, a bidder’s proposed package of Fair Work practices are evaluated alongside other relevant criterion by balancing the cost and quality elements the overall bid. It is not possible to identify the cost associated with any individual element of a bidders overall bid.

The Scottish Government can confirm that a recent trawl has shown that the real Living Wage is paid to workers engaged in the delivery of 94% of Scottish Government contracts.

Prior to the introduction of the Statutory Guidance, which applies to contracts that commence on or after 1 November 2015, in 2014 one contract with MITIE Technical Facilities Management Services Ltd was renegotiated within the permitted limits of the procurement regulations to ensure all contracted staff working on the Scottish Government estate are paid the real Living Wage. The Scottish Government and MITIE agreed an approach to share the associated costs. The additional sums paid are detailed in the following table.