Official Report 730KB pdf
Public Procurement (International Trade Agreements) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 [Draft]
Item 2 is an evidence session on a Scottish statutory instrument. I welcome Ivan McKee, the Minister for Public Finance, who is joined by Ross Grimley, a solicitor, and Iain Moore, the head of procurement policy, from the Scottish Government. I invite the minister to make a short opening statement.
Good morning, committee. Trade agreements often include provisions for providing for reciprocal access to public procurement. Although we know that trade is a reserved matter, implementation often occurs in devolved areas, such as public procurement. Accordingly, Scottish procurement regulations set out that bidders from countries where a relevant agreement applies are entitled to equal treatment when bidding for specified contracts in Scotland.
The instrument updates the list of relevant agreements, inserts a reference to a new agreement between the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan, and updates references to agreements with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania. Agreements with those countries, which were originally reached by the European Union and then rolled over by the UK, included contracts for some healthcare services in their scope. Although that did not compel public bodies to award contracts for those services rather than provide them in-house, it meant that, if contracts for those services were ever to be awarded, bidders from those countries would be entitled to equal treatment.
The agreements have been renegotiated to remove healthcare services from their scope. The instrument will ensure that Scottish regulations refer to the refreshed agreements.
The Scottish Government has consistently and successfully implemented international obligations on procurement since 2006, when it first transposed EU procurement directives, and is consistent in its commitment to upholding international law. The amendments to trade agreements that are contained in the SSI are necessary to reflect changes to international obligations, and there is no substantive discretion exercisable in their implementation.
Thank you. Are there any questions from members?
I want to understand this clearly. Are any healthcare services being provided in Scotland by the countries that are being removed—Georgia, Albania, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia and Ukraine? The instrument says that it removes those countries’ access to bidding for procurement of “certain health care services”. What kind of healthcare services are those?
Those are both good questions. The SSI is to update the references to those countries, so they will still be in the agreement, but the agreement is being altered by UK legislation post-Brexit to exclude healthcare.
I ask officials to say whether they can be more specific about what healthcare provision has been excluded.
All that I can tell you is that it is about the removal of four categories of clinical healthcare services from the scope of the agreement. The removal was to ensure consistency between the UK Government’s wider approach to trade agreements, to ensure alignment with the new legislation regime that has been introduced in the rest of the UK and to protect the UK Government’s capacity to develop and deliver policy for domestic healthcare reform.
I get that it is to bring us in line with the UK. I am just curious as to whether there is any current provision by those countries that would therefore be terminated or not be able to be renewed. What is meant by “certain health care services”? Maybe you could write to me about that.
We will write back on that. I am not aware of whether those countries are providing any healthcare at the moment—I would be surprised if they were—but we will check that. We will find out what the position is—as far as we know—and get back to you.
As there are no further questions, I will move to agenda item 3, which is formal consideration of the motion to approve the instrument. I invite the minister to speak to and move motion S6M-14474.
Motion moved,
That the Economy and Fair Work Committee recommends that the Public Procurement (International Trade Agreements) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 [draft] be approved.—[Ivan McKee]
Motion agreed to.
Thank you. A short factual report of the committee’s decision will be prepared and published. Are members content to delegate responsibility to me, as convener, for agreeing the committee’s report?
Members indicated agreement.
I thank the minister and his officials for joining us today, and I briefly suspend the meeting to allow for a changeover of witnesses.
09:36 Meeting suspended.