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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 12 July 2025
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Displaying 874 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Alexander Dennis

Meeting date: 26 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

You did not discuss that possibility at any board or management meetings before February this year.

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Alexander Dennis

Meeting date: 26 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

I totally accept that it might not have been planned, that you wanted the plant to grow and that that is why you made the investment, but I just find it slightly hard to believe that February was the first point at which you did even a speculative examination. In a business—especially a business the size of yours—you scenario plan and look at the optimistic, expected and pessimistic scenarios, so I am just wondering at what point in the past few years was the first time that the option of plant consolidation appeared, even if it was a distant pessimistic scenario. You never—

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Alexander Dennis

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

I am interested in understanding the scope of your representation on site. What is the breakdown of the areas that the two unions represent?

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Alexander Dennis

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

Derek, you raised points about China and considerations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. My understanding is that you can take into consideration social value and you can also, as you say, provide direct awards. You can also treat bids from non-treaty countries differently from bids from treaty countries, which China is not. I think that we all know the importance of encouraging people on to public transport and that transport should be seen as being absolutely critical to the economy. Could or should more conditionality have been placed on the grants provided by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government? Do you share my understanding of what the 2022 act might allow us to do going forward?

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

The second suggestion is the one that you alluded to. What we need, in part, is a change in the procurement approach. Is there a possibility that, rather than only changing the narration of what is going on in procurement—which is what the report would do—there could be a change in the structure of the procurement that is undertaken by local authorities and other public bodies? The structure could require them to do some initial work to explain their procurement requirements, either for particular procurement exercises or more generally, and it could require them, in their work on how bids are assessed, to think in particular about social value, as that is a permitted reason for granting and awarding contracts, over and above simple financial value.

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Alexander Dennis

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

So, it is the same workforce.

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Alexander Dennis

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

Mr Thomson has made some good points that we can take up as a committee. I make the simple observation that we have just had the provisional outturn, in which the Scottish Government had a £500 million underspend. I make that observation in relation to where money could be found.

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Alexander Dennis

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

It was really about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and whether more conditionality should have been applied, on the basis of that act, to the moneys that came directly from the Scottish Government and to the grants from Scottish Enterprise.

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

I am known for nothing else but plain speaking. You should not smile so broadly, minister.

The subtext to this is that there is a risk that, in essence, nothing will really change as a result of the bill—the Government will issue another set of guidance, there will be a round of consultations by local authorities and they will produce a report. There have been four suggestions—that is the number that comes to mind—for changes that could be made at stage 2, and I ask you to consider them.

First, in relation to what Lorna Slater and Gordon MacDonald said, could a consistent set of metrics be provided—not necessarily in the bill but in a subsection of the guidance—and could local authorities be required to set their own targets? You made the good point that one set of targets cannot apply to every area. However, if each local authority used a consistent set of metrics but was required to set its own targets, would that improve the bill and move things forward? What is your response to that idea?

Economy and Fair Work Committee [Draft]

Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 June 2025

Daniel Johnson

This will not work unless there is capacity and capability to heed the calls. It is about ensuring that people who know how to do that stuff have the confidence to do it. That is not going to happen unless there is support. Is there a possibility of considering broad duties to support capacity building or the Government looking at how it could use its agencies to help local communities to develop the skills, know-how and wherewithal to approach community wealth building? Unless people are starting businesses and creating community organisations and initiatives, community wealth building will just not happen. No amount of consultation or reports in the world will change that.

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