Chamber and committees

Thank you, minister. Members now have an opportunity to ask questions. First, I will ask about the level of support for the purpose of the consumer duty. The committee wrote to you in advance of this session, minister, and I thank you for the letter that we received. In our letter, we highlighted that

“only 49% of respondents”

had

“supported the duty being applied to the bodies outlined.”

Minister, you recognise in your response the concerns that were raised with regard to workload and the guidance, but your letter does not cover how those concerns will be addressed. You have talked today about the guidance, but one of the issues relates to workload and administration. Are you confident that we can get broader support—more than 50 per cent—for introducing the duty?

Mr Rafferty, can you also respond to another point? The minister’s letter says that consultation responses will “be published ... soon”. Can you give us an idea of the timescale for that? When will we have a better understanding of what the consultation responses said?

Transport Scotland is listed under the “Executive Agencies” heading, but the regional transport partnerships have been excluded.

As there are no other questions from members, we move to item 3, which is formal consideration of the motion to approve the instrument. As a reminder, I note that only members and the minister can take part in this item. I invite the minister to make any additional comments that he wishes to make and to move the motion.

Motion moved,

That the Economy and Fair Work Committee recommends that the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 (Relevant Public Authorities) Regulations 2024 [draft] be approved.—[Tom Arthur]

Motion agreed to.

Has the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 had any impact on the issues that you are raising?

Maggie Chapman has some questions about prices and weighting. As Brian Whittle started that theme, I will let her pick it up. I can come back to Brian Whittle once Maggie Chapman has asked some questions.

Does Maggie Chapman have a further question?

Stacey, you talked about Fife and Clackmannanshire councils, and the increases that they delivered in local procurement. We have had quite a long discussion this morning about food. Were the increases that those authorities delivered in particular sectors or services?

Good morning, and welcome to the fifth meeting in 2024 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Apologies have been received from Colin Smyth.

Our first item of business is to decide whether to take items 5, 6 and 7 in private. Are members content to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Are there any others? I suppose that those are the only organisations that would be in that type of arrangement. If the consumer duty is about strategic direction, how will the regional transport partnerships’ strategic direction be influenced by the duty, given that they are one step removed from local authorities?