Monitoring payments to contractors, employers, subcontractors via Procurement Policy: FOI release

Information requested

Part of the Scottish Government Public Sector Procurement policy, the SG expect the payment of the living wage as requirement for inclusion in the procurement tender. 

How do the Scottish government monitor the situation and do the SG ensure that all Public Sector contractors and employers, sub-contractors are paid in compliance with their policy. 

By public sector I wish to know how many checks and audits are carried out to include Police, Fire, NHS, all SG Departments, Councils, Quangos and their Facility Management companies.

Response

A public body is responsible for ensuring its procurement activity complies with the relevant legislation and that the decisions it takes in the context of its procurement activity are in accordance with the legislation and its own strategic objectives and policies.   

The Scottish Government, like other high-spending public bodies, is required by the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”) to prepare and publish a procurement strategy and report against it annually.  The 2014 Act sets out what a public body must include as a minimum within its procurement strategy and this includes a statement on its general policy on the payment of a living wage to persons involved in producing, providing or constructing the subject matter of procurements.  An annual procurement report must address all of the matters contained within a public body’s procurement strategy and that report must be published.  You can access the Scottish Government’s first annual procurement report published under the 2014 Act on the Scottish Government website.

Individual annual procurement reports published by public bodies form the basis for an annual report on procurement activity in Scotland prepared by Scottish Ministers.  You can access the first annual report on procurement activity in Scotland published under the 2014 Act on the Scottish Government website.

Note that the Scottish Government does not hold (for the purposes of FOISA) information pertaining to other bodies.

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