Seòmar agus comataidhean

Before we close, I have a question about supported workplaces. When we went to Dundee last year, we visited Enable and also Dovetail Enterprises. This morning, we have talked more about employers and people being supported into employment, but does anyone want to say anything about the role of supported workplaces, such as Dovetail? As other people have said, we visited the Push reuse centre and the Giraffe cafe in Perth, which are workplaces whose purpose, in part, is the provision of that support. Do you understand the distinction that I am making?

David Cameron, you may come in first, because you represent supported employment. Does that include supported workplaces and supported employment?

Good morning, and welcome to the 12th meeting in 2024 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee.

I have received apologies from Gordon MacDonald and Colin Smyth. Bob Doris is attending as committee substitute for Gordon MacDonald. Murdo Fraser has been delayed and is expected to join us during the meeting.

Our first item of business is the final evidence session of the committee’s post-legislative scrutiny of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. I welcome Tom Arthur, the Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance, who is joined by Graeme Cook, head of procurement services, and Nikki Archer, head of procurement and commercial policy, from the Scottish Government.

I invite the minister to make a short opening statement.

The committee decided to undertake an inquiry into the legislation because procurement came up in a number of different inquiries that we have carried out since we started work on those areas.

During our first evidence session, we heard from the Scottish Chambers of Commerce that it had taken feedback from members and that people would generally give the act a C+ for its performance. It said:

“There has been some good progress, but there is lots more progress to be made.”—[Official Report, Economy and Fair Work Committee, 7 February 2024; c 10.]

Ten years after the introduction of the legislation, I am interested to hear where the minister feels the remaining challenges or opportunities to improve the legislation are, and where it has been most successful.

During our earlier sessions, we heard evidence about community wealth building and how the five pilots across Scotland can be used as a positive model in supporting local supply chains. Do you have an update on where we are with the pilots? What do you see as the relationship between the community wealth building pilots and the legislation? Do you agree that the pilots are a way to promote and strengthen the effect of the legislation?

That is helpful. Thank you. As you have mentioned Ayrshire, I will bring in Brian Whittle.

That was not the evidence that we heard, particularly from the Scottish Wholesalers Association. I understand what Nikki Archer has outlined to us, but if that conversation were to be held, the committee would appreciate it.

I call Murdo Fraser, to be followed by Maggie Chapman.

Before I bring in Kevin Stewart, I will follow up on Maggie Chapman’s question. The minister will know that the committee is about to undertake work on disability employment. As part of that, we have discussed supported workplaces and where they fit into procurement services.

We have heard from people who are positive about reform of the reserved contracts provisions under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, which we are opening up to supported businesses, but the minister might want to say more about how public procurement can support such businesses.

We have heard reports that there are some barriers—for example, the areas in which those businesses can participate are quite narrow, and it can be difficult to match them up with opportunities. Is more work needed to recognise the role that supported businesses can play? How do we make it easier for them to access public procurement?

Thank you for that.

On Monday, the 2021-22 annual report was published, and you shared it with the committee, which was appreciated. I have just one question about it. I know that Maggie Chapman has raised questions about sustainability, and we have had a chat about the other legislation that is coming up, but the fact is that the percentage of public bodies that provided evidence of the regard that they are paying to climate change sits unchanged at 71 per cent.

In other inquiries, the committee has heard about the difficulty that SMEs in particular have with engaging with the climate change agenda, about the lack of support or knowledge, about how the increase in the cost of doing business has put pressure on them and about how they prioritise these things. The percentages for providing other sorts of evidence have improved, but that one is sitting at 71 per cent. Do you want to say anything more about those challenges, how public procurement can support businesses in meeting their climate change responsibilities and how it can help them shift the model that they use to do their business?

Further to that question, the evidence that we heard from Colin Smith of the Scottish Wholesalers Association about the rigidity of the structure was quite convincing, whether it was about the shape of pizzas or the difficulty of providing bakery products from Scottish suppliers because they did not meet the nutrition standards. I would just ask the minister whether we can get a commitment that he will have a conversation about that issue with the department and the minister who are responsible. We all support good nutritional standards in schools, but if the minister were to have that conversation about the impact that the standards might be having on local procurement, and how they might present barriers to getting local or Scottish suppliers for certain products, the committee would welcome that.