Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Official Report 750KB pdf

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Topical Question Time

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Scottish Qualifications Authority (Foreign Government Contracts)

1. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the Scottish Qualifications Authority regarding contracts that the body has signed with foreign governments. (S4T-00264)

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the Scottish Qualifications Authority on a range of issues. It has recently sought clarification on the contract that it signed with the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

We fully recognise that the SQA has, for many years, undertaken work in a range of countries to the benefit of the citizens in those countries.

The Scottish Government makes the valid point that the contract that was signed between the SQA and the Bahrain Government is not something on which the Scottish Government would be briefed routinely. Notwithstanding that statement, will the minister confirm whether the Scottish Government had any concerns about the second contract that was signed between the SQA and the Bahrain Government in March 2012, which post-dated the University of Edinburgh’s withdrawal from a similar contract on 27 January 2012, and about the context of the briefings from Bahrain campaign groups that were provided to the Scottish Government in April 2012?

The member’s point about the first contract also applies to the second contract—those are not matters that would routinely be brought to ministers. In this case, the matter was not brought to ministers, as the SQA is a body with its own board, which takes its own day-to-day decisions.

I understand the points that are being made. As I say, dialogue with the SQA to establish more information is on-going. However, I point out that the Scottish Government has made clear its concerns about human rights abuses in Bahrain. Indeed, we have said similar things to the United Kingdom Government in that respect. Again, like the UK Government, the SQA has an educational engagement in Bahrain. Of course, the distinctive feature of the UK Government’s engagement with Bahrain is that in 2012 it signed an agreement on defence co-operation.

The issue is the transparency of the contract. Is the minister able to give the chamber confidence by expressing support for the SQA’s due diligence processes for the 2011 and 2012 contracts? Moreover, will he expand on the comment made by the Scottish Government at the weekend that it was in discussions with the agency

“about how processes and arrangements might be improved”?

I am happy to provide information once those conversations have taken place with the SQA. I have to say that these were very much decisions for the SQA. Of course, I stand by Scotland’s educational engagement in a country such as Bahrain and am more than happy to provide the chamber with information on what the SQA is doing.

However, I must point out that, as well as the member’s Government in the UK supporting and being involved in a defence co-operation arrangement after last year’s human rights abuses, it also approved a rather large sale of military hardware. I will not embarrass the member by listing some of the items that were sold.

I am obviously aware of that. However, my point is about the process of questioning that was carried out with regard to the contracts. Concern has been expressed, particularly in view of the fact that the Scottish Government was aware of some of these issues at the time, and I want to get to the bottom of the process.

Although I reiterate that the SQA is an arm’s-length organisation with its own board, I am, as I have already indicated, more than happy to supply information about and detail on the conversation that the Government will have with the SQA.

I will not enter into the debate over whether the UK Government or the Scottish Government has behaved better with regard to what is happening in Bahrain, but I wonder whether the minister will question the SQA to ensure that any contract or arrangement between the agency and the Bahraini Government makes it clear that there must be no suppression of any ethnic group within that country in respect of the issues in which the SQA is providing material or support.

I have been accused of many things but, so far, I have never been accused of being complicit in the suppression of an ethnic group, and I ask the member to consider the tenor of his remarks.

As I have already indicated, the Government will provide information to the chamber on our conversations about the nature of all contracts with all countries. I reiterate that the SQA’s engagement around the world is beneficial to the people of many countries around the world as well as to Scotland.