Chamber and committees

I am Gordon MacDonald, the MSP for the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency.

I have a quick question. You mentioned Midsteeple Quarter, which I have visited as a member of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. What it is doing is great, but I was struck by the fact that, right opposite the building that you are talking about, there was an old Burton menswear building where someone wanted to open a cafe and restaurant but, because of the council’s zoning policy, which said that the building had to be retail only, it was lying derelict. How do we tackle derelict buildings in town centres when the local council’s policies undermine what we are trying to achieve?

It is a compulsory sales order.

Yes; before we lose sight of the points that were raised earlier, I thought that I had better come in with my questions.

Stacey Dingwall spoke about public procurement. When the Public Contracts Scotland portal was introduced in 2008, it was cutting edge, it brought a lot of contracts together and it gave a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises the option to bid for contracts. However, my experience from being on the Economy and Fair Work Committee is that there is a lack of capacity in micro and small businesses, and there is a perception that there is too much bureaucracy, whether that is true or not. What practical steps need to change in procurement so that SMEs can help to keep money circulating in the local economy because local businesses are using local services and so on?

My second question is to Matthew Brown and Neil McInroy. What is the definition of “local”? If we are to keep money circulating in the local economy, does that mean businesses that operate in that council area, or does it mean businesses that have a registered office in that area? Does “local” mean where the invoice is paid at the end of the day, which might be hundreds of miles away from where the particular business is operating?

Are quick quotes of benefit to SMEs, and should the threshold be increased?

How do we keep the money circulating in the local economy?

However, in order to replumb the economy, you need resources, so we need anchor institutions to start spending more locally, because that would supply the seedcorn funding that will enable us to get to where we want to be.

I want to ask about the Public Contracts Scotland website, which, I believe, falls within Graeme Cook’s remit.

What changes would you like to see?

I have one further question. I will finish with that because of the time constraints. One improvement that has been made is the introduction of the quick quote system, but it has a threshold of £50,000. Should that be reviewed? If so, what level should it be set at?