S4M-09051 Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott): The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-09051, in the name of Nicola Sturgeon, on stage 1 of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill.

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Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): As I represent the biggest fishing-dependent constituency, I am very familiar with the concept of sustainability. I am also very encouraged that the bill’s provisions are likely to lead to improved opportunities for employment, particularly for young people, through the embedding of apprenticeship requirements. There is much in the bill to be encouraging about.

We have heard a bit of discussion—most recently from Alison Johnstone—about sustainability. Section 8 is rather confusingly constructed in that it places sustainable procurement as an equal consideration, but then says that it must not trump economic operators, for example, and goes on to exclude the economic operators from EU procurement, but leaves sustainable procurement in place for EU-governed procurement. Therefore, there is scope for the Government to have a careful look at the wording of section 8 to benefit the strength that there ought to be behind sustainable outcomes.

It is worth pointing to the certainty that is provided by section 3, which is on regulated contracts. Amounts are provided. When I was a member of the Local Government and Regeneration Committee and we were looking at regeneration, one thing that emerged was that many council officials appear to advise their councillors, and other officials further down the line, in restrictive terms in relation to amounts, so that councils could not really just give business to local businesses. The certainty that the bill provides may help on that. I look forward to that being the case and to the issue being further developed at stage 2.

Section 9 is on the sustainable procurement duty. I very much welcome the need to “promote innovation” in that section. We must signal absolutely clearly that we want people to be imaginative and to think of new ways of doing things. Innovation might often involve something quite small that would have a big benefit and impact on a local SME or company that employs people in single figures.

I turn to section 22 and section 23, on selection of tenderers. The matters that I will raise may be covered in secondary legislation; if they are not covered in the minister’s summing up, I hope that they will be considered. I want to mention novation—in other words, the general ability in contract law, once someone has been awarded a contract, to sell that contract on to someone else. In general, contracts will say that they can be sold on only to approved people, but there is a general danger that a rigorous sifting process to award the contract to people whom we think are decent enough to get it could be bypassed if they were to sell on the contract. The same issue arises in engagement of subcontractors, of course. I certainly want the secondary legislation to make it clear how those processes will happen when contracts are awarded, in order to ensure that we do not in the first place suborn the selection of tenderers.

Tax avoidance has been the subject of discussion. Neil Findlay and other members used the word “avoidance”, and James Kelly and Alison Johnstone used the words “aggressive tax avoidance”. I absolutely agree with what was said. The trouble is that avoidance is something that we all do every day. I will give a very specific local example. When I pass a filling station that is selling diesel at £1.43 per litre and go to one that is selling it at £1.33 per litre, I am avoiding paying tax because in buying a cheaper product I am paying less tax. That is perfectly proper and to be expected.

We should look at what happens in the United States, where corporate taxation is based on the proportion of economic activity within the jurisdiction. If we can get our taxation on to that basis, many of the problems will disappear. We will not be able to do that terribly quickly, but it would be awfully nice to do it at all.

The principles in the bill are not new and are highly to be commended. I look forward to seeing the bill go through Parliament and hope that it gives more opportunities to small local businesses and improves the sustainability of the products that we buy.

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S4M-08831 St Ninian Ways

The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott): The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-08831, in the name of Aileen McLeod, on the St Ninian ways, a proposed European cultural route. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament recognises what it considers the significance of Whithorn as an important historical and archaeological site in the establishment and development of Christianity in Scotland; considers that Whithorn has a strong association with St Ninian, leading to the burgh’s status as a major centre of pilgrimage over 16 centuries of Scottish history; notes that Paisley Abbey and Crossraguel Abbey are already part of the Cluniac European Cultural Route, and considers that the creation of The St Ninian Ways as a new European Cultural Route with Whithorn as its destination would stimulate economic regeneration along the routes and help to increase the profile of Whithorn as a site of major significance both to Scottish history and to the development of Christianity in western Europe.

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Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): I congratulate Aileen McLeod on bringing the debate to the chamber.

Members’ business debates are often occasions on which we get drawn to something about which we knew almost nothing. Of course, it is quite appropriate that Aileen McLeod should be the member who brings this debate to the chamber, since it was George MacLeod who reinstated Iona as a place of pilgrimage for St Columba.

Various members—most recently Patricia Ferguson—have talked about connections with St Ninian across Scotland. My ancestry is from St Ninian’s parish, which is, essentially, the parish of Bannockburn, so I claim that connection. The cabinet secretary will be able to claim a connection because of St Ninian’s kirk in Linlithgow, where my late mother-in-law used to worship. Right across Scotland we see the cultural and historical imprint of St Ninian. For my part—I suspect the same is true of many others—I have never questioned who this person is. If this debate has done anything for me, it has caused me to find out a bit about this person of whom I had no knowledge whatever.

In establishing the cultural routes across Europe, the Council of Europe seeks to reflect the complexity of our cultures and societies. The cultural routes website says that there are 29 such trails. I look forward in particular to visiting the iter vitaes—the ways of the vineyards of Europe. I think that I might be able to persuade my wife that one of our holidays could be anchored on that. As someone who is interested in family history, the European cemeteries route looks remarkably attractive, as does the thermal heritage and thermal towns route, especially if I decide that I need to address the increasing pain in my elderly bones.

With such great diversity in the routes, there is surely space for something that touches so many countries, that brings a new dimension to our understanding of early Christianity—not simply in Scotland or Pictland, but in all the places that St Ninian was involved with.

I must confess that I have not spent very much time in the south of Scotland. My family connections are to the north and the west, and I have never had family living there. I have been there, like many others, to catch a ferry to Ireland. If we can create a little magnet to deflect a few people from just driving straight to the ferry and instead get them to go to a place of interest at Whithorn, that would be well worth doing.

We have been able to make the island of Iona a place of cultural and spiritual heritage—when I have been there, it has been fair buzzing—even though it is actually quite difficult to get to. People have to take a ferry to Mull and then take a ferry from the other side of Mull to Iona. The Isle of Whithorn is a bit easier to get to, because the ferry there is free, as people can drive all the way.

This is a success story that is waiting for just a little bit of encouragement. I hope that the minister can tell us about some of the early steps that will turn it into a future success for Scotland, and for Whithorn and the south-west.

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