Chamber and committees

That is very helpful. I am concerned that that DWP practice might still be going on. Do any other witnesses want to come in on that before we move on?

Thank you, convener. It is good to be here. I have nothing to declare other than to say that my entry in the register of members’ interests is shown on the Parliament’s website. Nothing in it relates to the work of this committee.

I do not doubt the challenges.

I am sure that some committee members—perhaps along with the Scottish Parliament information centre—can get that information to you, given the analysis that has been done.

I have a couple of follow-up questions, but Gillian Cameron wants to come in.

Will you clarify what the thresholds are that you are referring to, Ms Cameron?

There is maybe just a wee gap somewhere, where we could do a bit more. I am a committee substitute today, so I am a mere passenger, but I found that to be of particular interest, and maybe there is something that we could do to address that aspect.

Does that get followed up? I can give you a direct example of where such things do get followed up in the Scottish public sector. If someone applies for a job with Social Security Scotland, that is done mostly online and, if the person gets part of the way through the process and does not submit their application, there is a back channel by which, as long as the individual has provided some form of contact, Social Security Scotland will reach out to them, saying, “We see you were thinking about applying to Social Security Scotland but you didn’t complete the application. Is there any way we can support you to do that?” Is there any follow-up when a final bid does not come in but you know that a business was considering one?

I listened keenly to the discussion about the success in increasing the number of Scottish suppliers in recent years. However, businesses and third sector representatives have noted that unsuccessful bidders—those that are not among the 60 per cent of Scotland Excel’s suppliers that are Scottish—do not always get meaningful feedback. That can discourage small firms, in particular, from engaging in future procurement processes. How effective are current feedback procedures, and what barriers exist to providing more useful feedback more often? I am not sure which of the witnesses would like to address that question.

That is a human resource issue, potentially.

My question is for Mary Mitchell, who mentioned social and environmental impacts. I sit on the Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and we are considering the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill. One of the proposals to amend the bill relates to procurement, human-rights due diligence and environmental impact in global supply chains. Was your comment about trying to future proof other legislation that might emit from other committees in the Parliament?