Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16161 on 24 July 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16161 on 24 July 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Over the past five years, Scotland has been in a relatively stronger fiscal position than the UK as a whole to the tune of £12.6 billion. This means that over this period, holding everything else constant, Scotland could have had higher spending, for example on infrastructure investment, and/or lower taxation and still had a smaller fiscal deficit than the UK. With the additional economic levers that independence will provide, and the up to £1.5 trillion asset base provided by North Sea oil and gas reserves, an independent Scotland will stand on a strong financial footing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16161 on 24 July 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16161 on 24 July 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

<>The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that small and medium sized businesses have fair access to public sector contracts in Scotland and have made it easier for SMEs to do business with the public sector. In 2012, 82% of suppliers awarded contracts through Public Contracts Scotland were SMEs, following year-on-year increases.

Scottish Enterprise and Co-Operative Development Scotland (CDS) offer training for businesses wishing to increase their market share through joint collaborative bids with other businesses. CDS particularly promote the “co-operative consortium” in which member businesses share equally in a new entity which is formed to undertake some agreed activity on behalf of members. The “consortium co-operative” is increasingly popular in Scotland, including construction.

Our proposals for the Bill were developed through extensive consultation with stakeholders, including business representatives. The recommendations set out in the Federation of Master Builders report serve as welcome conformation that businesses, especially smaller firms, are keen that we use the Bill to tackle issues such as pre-qualification processes, provision of debriefing and advertising of contract opportunities.

The Procurement Reform Bill will apply to the award of commercial contracts for goods, works and services, not to contracts of employment which involve a salary. Similarly, Public Contracts Scotland is not intended for contracts of employment.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on the annual value of public sector construction contracts.

Spending on construction in 2011-12 recorded by public sector bodies on the Scottish Government’s Procurement Information Hub was £2.437 billion, which was 23.4% of construction output. The figures for 2010-11 were £2.122 billion and 18.5%. For 2009-10 they were £2.114 billion and 21.4%.

Note that the Scottish Government spending on construction and Scottish construction output figures are not directly comparable. This is because government construction spending in a given year does not immediately translate to measured Scottish output in the same year.

The Scottish Government does not collect information which measures the ratio of wins to bids of individual SMEs competing for public works contracts.

Based on information submitted to the Scottish Government’s Procurement Information Hub, where the size of the supplier firm was known, spending on construction recorded by public sector bodies was £2.09 billion in 2011-12, of which 47% went to firms classed as SMEs. In 2010-11 it was £2.00 billion (44% to known SMEs) and in 2009-10 it was £1.97 billion (43% to known SMEs).