Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Official Report 401KB pdf

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Petition

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Blacklisting (PE1481)

Agenda item 3 is consideration of a new petition, PE1481, on blacklisting in Scotland. The petition has been referred to the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee by the Public Petitions Committee because this committee is the lead committee for the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill. The issue raised in the petition is tied to matters that will be considered in the bill’s scrutiny process. Does anyone have a comment on the petition?

The petition follows on from work that has been carried out across the United Kingdom that has highlighted blacklisting as a serious issue and a threat to workers who have carried out political activities, which could have affected any member of this committee in their working lives. It is good to see the petition come to the Parliament. It would be worth while asking the organisations that submitted the petition to come and give evidence to the committee during our deliberations on the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill.

I am not sure that we can ask every single one of them, but we can ask representatives. We will have an evidence session on this aspect of the bill. As I said, I am not sure that we can ask a representative from every organisation concerned to give evidence, because we must have a broad spectrum in our panel of witnesses. However, that evidence session is certainly in the work programme for the bill.

Is everybody content that we address the petition as part of the committee’s scrutiny of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill?

Members indicated agreement.

Okay. As agreed earlier, we now move into private session.

11:24 Meeting continued in private until 11:37.