Chamber and committees

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0903-01.htm

The government is committed to ensuring that small and medium-sized businesses have fair access to public sector contracts in Scotland. In support of this, in April I wrote to heads of procurement and chief executives throughout the Scottish public sector setting out my expectation that they take six simple steps, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1265/0080942.pdf, to promote access to public sector contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises and third sector bodies.

In addition, companies can have free access to contract opportunities across the Scottish public sector through the Public Contracts Scotland website www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk.

 

The public sector currently spends approximately £8 billion on goods, works and services each year. Analysis of spend data from across the public sector shows that for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 on average 49% of that spend was with small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data collection will continue and organisations are being encouraged to actively monitor their level of spend with SMEs as part of the government''s six simple steps to ensure that SMEs continue to make a significant contribution to the delivery of public services in Scotland and to the supply of goods and works to the Scottish public sector:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/SMEs.

Last summer, the government launched Public Contracts Scotland, in response to John McClelland''s recommendation that an open market environment supported by a single public sector ˜electronic portal'' should be established. Public Contracts Scotland gives suppliers free-of-charge easy access to information on Scottish contract opportunities. Over 30,000 suppliers are now registered, 83% of which are SMEs, and roll out of the portal across the public sector is continuing, with 138 public bodies already using the portal to advertise their contract opportunities.

There are no specific indicators which track the formation of, or success of, consortia in securing public procurement tenders. However, public bodies can track the percentage of their spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the Scottish Procurement Information hub. Over time, Public Contracts Scotland portal will also allow public sector bodies to track the proportion of their contracts that are awarded to SMEs.

The Scottish Government recognises that the establishment of consortia and other supply chain partnerships can provide a mechanism for small, medium and social enterprises to actively compete for a range of public sector contracts. To facilitate this, the government has produced the following guidance:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/48453/0081532.pdf.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/15300/enterprising-organisation/Consortia-Guidance.

The guidance, though specifically written for social enterprise and the third sector, contains general information helpful to any business organisation interested in these business models. The Scottish Government has also commissioned research on actual and perceived barriers to consortia bidding in the business community. This will assess what further support smaller firms might need in this area and help inform future procurement strategies.

To make accessing public sector business opportunities as open as possible, cross-government events throughout Scotland are encouraging suppliers to register on the website, www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk, for a free contract email alert service; browse the website for large and small opportunities; bid for these opportunities (via consortia and supply chain partnerships where appropriate) and look up contract award information for sub-contract opportunities. To date, over 30,000 business organisations have registered on the website.

The Scottish Procurement information hub analyses procurement spending by Scottish public bodies including all local authorities and health boards. According to information on the hub at July 2009, spending with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since April 2006 in terms of value is as follows:

The SME spend figures for the last three financial years as at July 2009 are as follows:

Financial Year	Total Percentage of Spend With SMEs	Small-Sized Enterprises	Medium-Sized Enterprises
2005-06: Spend from 121 organisations	49%	24%	25%
2006-07: Spend from 166 organisations	49%	23%	26%
2007-08: Spend from 77 organisations	49%	23%	26%

 

The Scottish Government is monitoring the proportion of contracts which go to small and medium-sized enterprises, and has asked all public bodies to do the same.

According to the recently published Audit Scotland report Improving Public Sector Purchasing, implementation of the McClelland report''s recommendations saved around £327 million in 2006-07 and 2007-08. We have no evidence to suggest that local employment, welfare benefits costs or local spending have been adversely affected. Monies saved should be available to public bodies for deployment on other priorities.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it, including council tax receipts, on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives. For its part, the Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding, £23 billion over the period 2008-10.

As part of the wheelchair and seating services modernisation action plan the need for a standard assessment tool that will assess mobility within a framework of the social model of disability has been identified. As part of the planning process for this pilot the services are developing an audit tool, based on assessment, that will assist in identifying whether the wheelchair user''s goals have been met and whether the equipment has been of benefit to them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24747 on 15 June 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.