Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has launched a 10 week consultation into New Year’s Day trading for large retail stores today.

The consultation is seeking the views of shop workers and retail businesses and their representatives on whether the current law should change so that large retail businesses must close on New Year’s Day, as they currently do on Christmas Day. I would encourage all relevant parties to access the consultation on the Scottish Government’s consultation hub to ensure their views are taken into account.

SMEs and micro businesses are critical to the social, economic and environmental health of Scotland and we are committed to leveraging the full procurement rules to make it as easy possible for SMEs to bid for and win public procurement contracts and/or participate in local supply chains:

• Scotland outperforms the UK Gov target of 33% central government procurement spend going with SMEs by 2022. Even without target setting, in Scotland, 47% of public procurement spend in 2018-2019 went to SMEs; exceeding UKG( 26%), EU average (45%) and US(30%).
• last year, 58% of procurement spend on Scottish businesses went to SMEs, which account for only 40% of business turnover in Scotland, showing that SMEs are able to take advantage of the significant benefits that exist in relation to engaging with public procurement in Scotland.
• In 2019-20, over 26,000 suppliers were awarded public sector contracts worth £6.9bn through our Public Contracts Scotland portal; our data shows that 79% of suppliers awarded contracts in Scotland were SMEs from all locations and 63% were Scottish SMEs.
• We continue to provide funding (up to £150,000 in 2021-22) to the Supplier Development Programme which delivers free training and guidance on how to submit and win public procurement bids. During FY 2020-21, over 2,400 Scottish SMEs attended training events with 93% stating they were more likely to bid for public sector contracts as a direct result.
• The Supplier Development Programme also delivers free local and national Meet the Buyer events to put suppliers in touch with public sector buyers to learn more about up and coming contracts
• In March 2021, we published the results of a comprehensive survey of suppliers which received over 1550 responses. Its findings indicate that there is much to be positive about in respect of Scottish public sector procurement and the recent work done to improve it. At the same time it found that there are clearly areas in which the Scottish public sector could do more to build on the steps already taken to maximise the impact of public procurement in Scotland.
• This year we have also launched a series of SME round table meetings to hear directly from SME suppliers about their experiences of bidding for and winning public contracts.
• Of the [1] £369 million that Scottish Government spent through its contracts, over £120 million went directly to SMEs, with many more SMEs benefiting through our supply chains; they shared over £40 million of spend as subcontractors, with £30 million of that going to Scottish SMEs.

[1] Scottish Government Procurement Annual Report 2020

Arrangements are being put in place to establish the new Council for Economic Transformation, which will shape and drive our 10 year National Strategy for Economic Transformation. We have already publicly committed to do this within our first 100 days and we will update with regard to progress shortly.

The Scottish Government is providing local authorities across Scotland with £21.75 million to provide targeted free school meal support during the school holidays throughout the forthcoming school year. We wrote to local authorities on 14 May to inform them of their allocations and I can confirm that North Ayrshire Council will receive £704,000 in additional funding to support the delivery of free school meal approaches in all school holidays.

This support will be available to all families who are in receipt of any of the qualifying benefits which would enable them to receive free school meals, regardless of whether their children are in primary or secondary school and this support will begin at the start of the forthcoming summer holidays.

Local authorities will be given the flexibility to support eligible families through any method which they feel will best meet local needs and circumstances within their respective areas.

Responding to incidents is an operational matter for our Emergency Services and the Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on response times to specific incidents or locations.

The Scottish Government is providing local authorities across Scotland with £28 million to expand the universal provision of free school lunches to include all children in primary 4 starting from August 2021, and to include all children in primary 5 starting from January 2022.

We wrote to local authorities on 14 May to inform them of their allocations and I can confirm that North Ayrshire Council will receive £651,000 in additional funding to support the expansion of universal free school meals to primary 4 and primary 5 children in 2021-22.

To clarify, the one off pro rata thank you payment for all eligible health and social care staff is £500. We are working at pace with our key stakeholders to establish an effective way to pay Personal Assistants. We will issue further details as soon as this is agreed. We are confident that we have developed an online portal to reach all eligible Personal Assistants and we are aiming to have it open very soon.

The Scottish Government works with a wide range of partners, particularly our enterprise agencies and local authorities, who have lead responsibility for local economic development in the area, to deliver investment and support job creation across Scotland, including the Central Scotland region.

We have committed £500 million to the Glasgow City Deal and £50 million to the Falkirk Growth Deal to support delivery of programmes of investment directly benefitting the Central Scotland parliamentary region. This investment will stimulate economic growth and create jobs in the construction phase of projects and beyond.

Scottish Enterprise works with a wide range of local businesses to help them to meet their growth aspirations and support job creation. Since 2019, Scottish Enterprise has invested over £3.35 million in Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) Grants, and almost £12 million in Research & Development (R&D) grants, to support projects that will help create and safeguard jobs in North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Falkirk.

Businesses are also directly supported via Business Gateway. Business Gateway, delivered by the local authorities, is Scotland’s first stop shop for businesses seeking public sector support, including how to grow their business and create jobs. Since 2019, Business Gateway has invested over £6 million in supporting businesses across the Central Scotland local authority areas, and through its DigitalBoost programme, delivered over £2.3 million to support companies to develop their digital skills and online presence to reach wider markets.

Additionally, the investment we make in areas such as local government, housing, education and skills, transport and health contribute to job growth. For example, in February 2021 we completed the £1.8 billion Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, which saw 117 new schools built or refurbished over the last ten years. Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire collectively had 11 schools in the program, benefiting from £160 million investment, and the associated 1,500 construction jobs created by the programme at any one time. On Transport infrastructure, in March 2020 work completed on the £870 million Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme, improving railway infrastructure, rolling stock and service provision throughout central Scotland including Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire. Construction supported around 600 jobs across the programme.

The national public bodies directory has been updated to reflect the most up to date funding information for individual public bodies. I refer the member to the website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/pages/executive-non-departmental-public-bodies/

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00019 on 26 May 2021. The answer is available on the Parliament's website at: Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament .