- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish guidance for public procurers on how best to use procurement to drive innovation.
Answer
The Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook, which will be published shortly, will recommend that purchasers test the market to determine what solutions are currently or potentially available prior to advertising a contract. It will advise purchasers to take advantage of the more flexible procedures permitted by EU procurement law. It will also provide guidance on the preparation of specifications which are expressed in terms of outputs or outcomes and performance. By describing what is to be achieved rather than specifying how it should be done, the scope for businesses to propose innovative solutions can be maximised.
Purchasers can also access guidance on market engagement and developing output or outcome specifications through the Scottish public procurement toolkit at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/Resources/SPDToolkit.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to use procurement in the public sector to leverage innovation and skills development in the private sector.
Answer
A number of initiatives under the public procurement reform programme impact on innovation and skills development in the private sector.
To enable businesses to gain a better understanding of public sector markets and contracts, we have recently launched a national advertising portal at:
http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/.
Businesses will be able to access the portal free of charge and to use it to identify opportunities for proposing innovative solutions to meet public sector requirements.
We have developed a procurement competency framework which identifies the skills and competency levels required by purchasers across the public sector in Scotland. The framework recognises that in order to stimulate innovation, purchasers need to fully understand the market and to express their requirement in terms which allow businesses to propose innovative solutions.
The development of user intelligence groups by the procurement centres of expertise will promote sharing of knowledge between Scottish contracting authorities and a better understanding of the market and what it can offer.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the practicalities of setting targets for small and medium-sized enterprises to win public sector business.
Answer
We are currently assessing the practicality of setting a target for the percentage of expenditure by the public sector in Scotland with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
We are continuing to develop the Scottish Procurement Information Hub, which provides detailed expenditure and supplier data from a significant number of high-spending public sector organisations in Scotland. Further development of the information hub will allow us to monitor the percentage of expenditure with medium, small and micro businesses and also to monitor average spending trends with SMEs in different sectors.
Data from the information hub shows that in the financial year 2005-06 (the most recent data available), just over 50% of public expenditure was with SMEs.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce innovation procurement plans to improve innovation capability across government and the sharing of best practice.
Answer
We are aware of the proposed content of the innovation procurement plans for UK Government departments which are currently under development by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
We will shortly be publishing a Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook which will set out the fundamental rules, behaviours and standards applicable to public procurement activity in Scotland. The handbook will require all Scottish contracting authorities to consider how they can procure innovative solutions to their requirements. Compliance with the principles in the policy handbook will be mandatory and will be measured and reported on during contracting authorities'' audits.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 31 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the specific details of the competition for the Saltire Prize will be available and when the competition will open.
Answer
The First Minister will announce details of the Saltire Prize challenge on St Andrew’s Day 2008. Details of the competition will also be published at this time.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether information from the energy performance certificates for new buildings will be incorporated into the Home Energy Efficiency Database and what its position is on the matter.
Answer
Information from energy performance certificates for new buildings is placed on the building standards register maintained by local authorities. There are no plans at present to record this information on the Home Energy Efficiency Database.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of legislation introduced to the Parliament of Australia on 18 June 2008 which will establish the world’s first comprehensive framework for carbon dioxide capture and geological storage; what contact it has held with the Australian Government regarding this legislation, and what lessons it considers Scotland might learn from the Australian example.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of the legislation introduced in Australia regarding carbon capture and storage (CCS). Specifically, under the sister state agreement between Scotland and the Australian state of Victoria, CCS is being considered as a potential area of collaboration and officials have been in contact with Victoria to discuss particular areas of interest.
The Scottish Government is playing a leading role in terms of co-assisting further research on CCS and ensuring that all opportunities are considered, including learning from other countries.
The Scottish Government is currently developing a legislative framework for the offshore storage of carbon dioxide as part of the UK Energy bill. We are currently consulting on this jointly with the UK government. We will also be responsible for implementing the EU directive for carbon storage in Scotland.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it intends to take to raise public awareness about the requirement for an energy performance certificate at point of rental or sale of a property from January 2009.
Answer
Seminars are planned later this year for those involved in the sale/rental process and a range of guidance leaflets for different sectors is being developed at present.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines a “public building” in complying with the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings.
Answer
Public building means a building with a floor area of more than 1,000 square metres, which is occupied by public authorities and institutions providing public services, and which can be visited by the public. Guidance is also provided in Clause 6.9.3 of the Scottish Building Standards Non-Domestic Technical Handbook.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 17 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage study into potential carbon storage sites will be completed.
Answer
The study, which is being co-ordinated by the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage, with funding from the Scottish Government and a number of other partners, is due to be completed by the spring of 2009.
