- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the comments made by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10410), what changes have been made in its relationship with the UK home civil service to indicate its conversion from a government department to a devolved government.
Answer
The Civil Service remains a reserved matter, although the Civil Service Code makes it clear that civil servants in the devolved administrations owe their loyalty to those administrations rather than to the UK Government. This means that the efforts, skills and energy of departmental officials are directed towards the delivery of the Scottish Programme for Government designed to benefit the people of Scotland. It also means that whilst staff in the Executive areparticipants in the wider civil service reform agenda, we are also able to introduce reform and training programmes that are peculiar to Scottish dimension and which equip the staff to deal with the demands of supporting a Scottish administration. The policies that the staff of the Executive are required to implement are those of the Executive not Westminster.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, with reference to the comments made by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10412), it will place a copy of its construction client pack and any associated materials in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
The Executive’s guidance on construction procurement strategies, including construction management is set out in the Construction Client Pack which is available on the Executive’s website at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Planning-Building/construction/Client-Pack.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the comments made by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10412), what guidance it has issued in relation to the requirement that advice on procurement options for future capital projects and their associated risks is submitted to the relevant minister for approval and, if no such guidance has been issued, what the target date is for its issue.
Answer
I refer the member to the question S2W-11414 answered on 9 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the comments made by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10414), which qualifications are recognised by it as professional qualifications in procurement.
Answer
In referring to professional procurement qualifications, the Executive is referring to professional membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS), foundation level membership of CIPS and to the Certificate of Competence in Purchasing and Supply (equivalent to CIPS Foundation level membership). The CIPS is an Institute incorporated by Royal Charter and is recognised by both the private and public sectors as the leading UK and international professional Institute for procurement professionals.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the comments made by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10412), what instructions it has issued regarding the submission of reports to the responsible minister if a gateway review finds that a project is in difficulty and, if no such instructions have been issued, what the target date is for their issue.
Answer
I refer the member to the question S2W-11414 answered on 9 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the comments made by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10412), what criteria it will use to determine whether the use of construction management is appropriate for future capital projects.
Answer
Officials are currently working on revised guidance on how to determine the appropriateness of various procurement routes and to underline the associated risks. The Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Construction Client Pack will be amended shortly.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring arrangements are in place to assess the success of any changes it has introduced in procurement professionalism, capacity and practice since 1999, as referred to by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10412).
Answer
Key performance indicators for the procurement function are recorded value for money (VFM) savings and customer satisfaction feedback reports (completed by the client for every project). VFM savings consistently exceed direct procurement costs and over 90% of customer feedback reports record client satisfaction with the function’s work. Another measure of the success of these changes is that, since devolution, no complaint regarding compliance with EU procurement rules obligations has been upheld regarding a procurement overseen by procurement function staff. Gateway Reviews will also help assess the quality of procurement activity.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to make ministerial involvement a prerequisite in key procurement decisions, as referred to by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10409).
Answer
Officials are currently working on proposals regarding the approach to be adopted towards procurement strategies and plan to issue guidance on this shortly.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements it has introduced in procurement professionalism, capacity and practice since 1999, as referred to by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10412).
Answer
We have formed the Scottish Procurement Directorate, combining sources of advice and guidance on goods/services and works procurement. Within the directorate we now have a policy branch which provides specialist advice and guidance on EU public procurement rules. The Directorate has attended European Commission official-level meetings on public procurement, and has regular dialogue at a UK level on common UK procurement policy issues. The number of procurement function staff who are members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply has been increasing for several years, due in no small measure to the introduction, five years ago, of in-house training provided by Glasgow College of Commerce. We have also published the Construction Client Pack, offering comprehensive guidance on works related procurement matters.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its staff are involved in the procurement of capital projects.
Answer
The number of major capital projects (defined as project involving acquisition of asset with estimated value of at least £5 million) is variable, the number of Executive staff working on each project varies considerably and some staff may work on more than one project at any given time.
At this point in time, we estimate that there are currently 95 Executive staff involved in the procurement of capital projects.
