Chamber and committees

Thank you.

Joanne Davidson and Colin Smith are both nodding. Joanne, do you have anything to add to that?

Have you noticed a reduction in bureaucracy since the 2014 act was passed?

So that I am clear, are those late payments by public bodies, or by others in the supply chain?

Good morning, minister. I want to follow up on Mr Whittle’s point. First, I recognise that we are looking only at an instrument that specifies a list of public authorities, rather than at the substance of the 2020 act. However, I struggle with the issue of what the practical impact of the regulations will be. Can you give us an example of something that a public authority is not currently doing but that it will do in the future once the regulations are in place?

That is helpful. It seems to me that public bodies should be doing that already, so, in effect, the regulations simply put into law something that should already be happening in practice.

I have one more specific question. I noticed that Transport Scotland is excluded from the list of bodies that are covered by the duty. What is the reason for that?

Good morning. Perhaps I could follow up on Stacey Dingwall’s point about access for smaller businesses.

I am a veteran of the committee, having been a member of it in its various forms in previous sessions. I remember our discussions about procurement going back many years. We would hear businesses’ frustrations, in particular those of small businesses, which would always argue that they were not getting a fair slice of the cake from the public procurement process.

I am interested in your perspective on whether the following still happens. It always used to be the case that public bodies would, in effect, hide behind EU procurement rules. Of course, we are no longer in the EU, but I am interested to know whether that issue still exists. We are still bound by World Trade Organization procurement rules. Do those still present a barrier? Are small and medium-sized businesses still struggling to get a fair slice of the cake?

I am sure that Brian Whittle, who is obsessed with the issue of local procurement, will follow up on those questions in due course.

I will go back to Stacey Dingwall with a slightly different question. Your submission talked about issues around prompt payment, particularly for second-tier or third-tier suppliers to contracts. How much is that still a problem, and what progress is being made towards resolving it, so that people are paid on time?

Your Government is choosing to deliberately cut enterprise aspects of the budget and to prioritise other areas. You are making that choice, and it is having consequences. The convener referred to evidence that we heard last week from the hospitality sector. I do not know whether you have seen the survey by the Scottish Licensed Trade Association that was published this morning. In a survey of more than 500 of its members, 96 per cent of respondents feel that the Scottish Government is out of touch with the business community. How is the new deal for business going?

[Inaudible.]—for example.