Question reference: S6W-13055
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 9 December 2022
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Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 December 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement on 6 December 2022 that organisations applying for public sector grants will need to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide channels for staff to have a say in the workplace from July 2023, whether this applies to grants awarded by local authorities, and what discussions ministers have had with them on this issue.
Answer
The member is right to focus on how we are driving sustainable, inclusive economic growth in Scotland by requiring grant recipients to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective voice. This will take further the conditionality that we have already applied to £4bn of public funding since 2019.
As long as they act lawfully it is up to each council to manages day to day business, allocate resources. Scottish Ministers have no general powers to direct a council how to use its funding. Councils are best placed to determine how Fair Work conditionality can be applied to local priorities, with delivery monitored within their normal funding and contract management arrangements.
Although local government funding is provided through grant in aid rather than direct grant, and will not be subject to Bute House conditionality, the Scottish Government asks local government to build on the shared commitment made in June 2021 by local authority Chief Officers to adopting Fair Work First. As such, we have asked COSLA and local government to consider how the new real Living Wage and effective voice conditionality can be applied to grants they award, and take action to initiate this.
Ministers have engaged regularly with COSLA, setting out the Scottish Government’s expectation that councils, alongside the wider public sector, lead the way on Fair Work. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and Cabinet Secretary for Finance wrote to COSLA in September 2021 making clear that pay and effective voice are cornerstones of Fair Work. My officials have had regular discussions with COSLA representatives on Fair Work, and in November 2022, I met with COSLA’s resources spokesperson to discuss Fair Work and highlight this new conditionality. I also wrote to COSLA and local authority leaders on 9 December to outline the new conditionality measures being introduced to Fair Work First from July 2023, and and to reiterate the important role for the public sector in making Scotland a leading Fair Work nation.