Chamber and committees

Will the minister confirm that, despite UK Government cuts to capital funding, Scotland’s affordable housing supply programme remains the most ambitious and successful such programme in the UK?

I want to ask about the Public Contracts Scotland website, which, I believe, falls within Graeme Cook’s remit.

What changes would you like to see?

I have one further question. I will finish with that because of the time constraints. One improvement that has been made is the introduction of the quick quote system, but it has a threshold of £50,000. Should that be reviewed? If so, what level should it be set at?

The evidence that we have heard over the past few weeks from suppliers and buyers is that, when the website was introduced back in 2008, it was very welcome as it provided one point where people could find all the contracts. Sixteen years later, however, it is looking a bit dated in comparison with other e-tendering systems. Can you highlight what the plans are to replace or upgrade that system in the future? In addition, for my benefit, can you tell us why there are two systems? There is Public Contracts Scotland and a separate tendering system.

That would reduce the administrative burden that a lot of suppliers feel they have.

I put my question to everybody else. Julie, do you have views on how to improve the system?

I welcome Labour’s acknowledgement of how well the country performs in its report, “Building a business case for Scotland”, which states:

“Scotland has been an internationalist, outward looking nation that has punched well above its weight across the UK and on the world stage.”

That is a recognition of what the SNP has achieved during the past 17 years, despite a financial crash, Brexit and a pandemic.

Thanks to the latest figures from the House of Commons library, we can detail how we have punched well above our weight. Gross domestic product per head, which is a broad measure of economic growth, is higher in Scotland than in Northern Ireland, the north-east of England, the north-west, Yorkshire, the midlands, the east and the south-west of England. Before I forget, in Wales—which is Labour controlled—GDP per head is 17 per cent lower than it is in Scotland. The employment rate in Scotland is higher than the employment rate in Labour-controlled Wales and in Northern Ireland, and it is higher or on a par with the rate in many English regions. Scotland also has the highest median weekly earnings of any UK nation, and they are higher than in the UK. In Labour-controlled Wales, the median weekly earnings for a full-time employee are 10 per cent lower than they are in the UK.

Since Labour’s financial crash of 2008, productivity in Scotland has increased by an average of 1 per cent per year. Not only is that higher than the UK increase of 0.5 per cent per year, but it is higher than the increase in the OECD countries and it is higher than the EU27 average increase.

Analysis from the London School of Economics highlights that productivity is lower in the UK than in France, Germany and America. That gap is due to a lack of investment in capital and skills. On skills, Scotland has the highest percentage of its working-age population with higher education certificates, at 50 per cent, which surpasses the UK figure of 31 per cent.

A report on productivity from the LSE’s programme on innovation and diffusion says that,

“from a growth perspective, cuts to public capital investment in future years are particularly concerning.”

The report goes on to say:

“The UK productivity problem can be summed up in three words—investment, investment and investment. Or lack thereof.”

However, the Tory spring budget delivered no additional capital funding for Scotland. Indeed, the block grant for capital is expected to reduce in real terms, with a cumulative loss of more than £1.3 billion by 2027-28.

Scotland is also the only UK nation with a consistent international trade surplus in goods since records began. That is only one example of where Scotland is outperforming the UK and being held back by Westminster.

Electricity exports to the rest of the UK have an estimated value of £4 billion on the wholesale market. Yesterday, the boss of Octopus Energy said that switching to zonal pricing would give Scotland some of the

“cheapest electricity in Europe”

and that it

“would help attract businesses to Scotland”.

There is also currently an opportunity to attract high-energy-use companies such as data centres to Scotland, as there is a 10-year moratorium on building them in parts of London. However, electricity policy is reserved and, as a result, we do not benefit from our abundance of electricity generation.

Scotland’s record of attracting foreign direct investment outpaces that of both the UK and Europe for the number of projects and it maintains Scotland’s position as the top-performing area of the UK outside London for the eighth year.

Brexit has made it more difficult to trade with an EU marketplace of almost 450 million people, which we need better access to if we are serious about growing Scotland’s economy. However, Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems have all declared themselves as Brexiteers, and only independence will give us the opportunity to rejoin the EU.

The only relevant interest that I have to declare is that my wife is a local government councillor.

As a buyer who uses the portal to put up contracts for suppliers, how easy do you find it to use?