Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Official Report 683KB pdf

Trade Bill

Public Procurement (Government Procurement Agreement) Regulations

Public Procurement (International Agreements) Regulations

Item 4 on our agenda, which relates to the Trade Bill, is consideration of a proposal by the Scottish Government to consent to the UK Government legislating using the proposed powers under the Trade Bill, once it receives royal assent.

There are two proposed sets of regulations. First, there are the Public Procurement (Government Procurement Agreement) Regulations, which amend the procurement regulations for the UK so that they will reflect the UK’s accession to the World Trade Organization Government procurement agreement in its own right, rather than in its current capacity as an EU member state. Those changes will ensure that suppliers established in territories and states that are party to the GPA will continue to be afforded the same rights and remedies that they currently have access to when they participate in UK procurement after the end of the transition period.

Secondly, there are the Public Procurement (International Agreements) Regulations. The UK is attempting to negotiate the rollover of existing international agreements that the EU has with third parties and which touch on public procurement. UK and Scottish procurement legislation needs to be amended to reflect the UK’s obligations in those rolled-over EU international trade agreements. The UK Government is seeking to make amendments to Scottish procurement regulations to provide continuity as far as possible in existing trade relationships with third countries now that we have left the EU.

In conclusion, the notification of the regulations suggests that they are all category A proposals—that is to say that they are technical, with minimum policy choice or only one obvious policy solution. The committee previously agreed to write to the Scottish Government to seek further information on the instruments, and links to the committee’s letter and the cabinet secretary’s response are included in the committee papers.

Is the committee content for the matters in question to be dealt with by statutory instruments laid at Westminster?

Members indicated agreement.

As the committee is content, I will write to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to notify her of the committee’s decision.