Chamber and committees

The total cost for maintenance of the lift system for the past four years including financial year 24-25 is as follows. For financial year 20/21 we do not hold information in a format that allows us to identify the costs of maintaining the lifts as it was included within a project capacity and therefore wouldn’t be accurate to what was spent solely on maintenance. All costs provided exclude VAT.

• 2024/25 - £30,411.89
• 2023/24 - £28,384.80
• 2022/23 - £25,012.17
• 2021/22 - £13,375.91

Christmas tree decorations are stored and delivered onsite by our service provider, with PAT testing costs covered by the contractor.

We can’t easily calculate an occupancy rate for the creche, as the overall capacity of the creche varies depending on the ages of the children using it and the required staffing ratios (i.e. 0-2 years requires 1 staff member to every 3 children, 2-3 years requires 1 staff member to every 5 children, 3-5 years requires 1 staff member to every 8 children). 

In terms of overall usage, in 2019/20 the creche had a total of 2759 bookings with average length of stay of 1hr 41mins. In 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23, the creche service was closed due to the pandemic and the time required to set up a new service contract. In 2023/24, the creche returned with reduced opening hours (now only operating 3 days per week, rather than 5 day per week). There were 894 bookings in 2023/24 with an average length of stay of 2hr 13mins. The number of bookings in 2023/24 only reflect 10 months of opening, as the service was still being mobilised for the first 2 months of the year.

The total cost for gardening and landscaping maintenance services in the last five years including financial year 24-25 is as follows. Costs exclude VAT.

• 2024/25 - £17,435.56
• 2023/24 - £17,144.11
• 2022/23 - £16,067.58
• 2021/22 - £14,593.62
• 2020/21 - £14,168.56

The beekeeper takes measures to prevent diseases and pests, maintains the hygiene and safety of the bee colonies  and ensures that all disease prevention treatments are provided. This includes checking for notifiable pests and diseases, which if found would be reported to the Honey Bee Health Inspectors.

The beekeeper maintains accurate beekeeping records, carries out hive inspections during the summer months and provides appropriate care and/or preventative maintenance as required.

The SPCB owns and operates five number flagpoles, and they are approximately 8.2 metres in height. There has been no general maintenance works needed to the flag poles in the last 15 years with the only cost for each being the annual LOLER inspection. LOLER stands for Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations and the flag poles are included within other inspections of the same type carried out across the parliament. The cost for LOLER inspection is included within the planned building maintenance contract and we do not hold information in a format which allows us to identify the flagpole inspections as an individual item. 

The operating costs for the crèche over the last five years has been as follows –

2023/24        £108k

2022/23        Service closed

2021/22        Service closed

2020/21        Service closed

2019/20        £145k

The Parliament currently owns 180 flags for external and internal use. There is not a published list of which flags we own. 

Window cleaning services at the Scottish Parliament are carried out by both Mitie Cleaning and Environmental Services Ltd (general cleaning contract) and TRAC International Ltd (High-level Building Maintenance Contract). We do not hold information in a format which allows us to identify the costs of cleaning windows. Payments made under both contracts do not distinguish window cleaning from other cleaning services undertaken by Mitie or as part of the work regularly done by Trac. Information about suppliers for each business area within the SPCB, including the provision of cleaning services is publicly available in the Contracts Register on the Scottish Parliament website.