Slavery and human trafficking statement 2023 to 2024

3. Organisational structure, its business and its supply chains

Businesses can play a significant role in promoting human rights in society by providing sustainable, fair employment, delivering services, generating economic growth and developing infrastructure.

However, businesses can also directly and indirectly negatively impact on individuals’ and communities’ human rights through their operations, supply chains, or business relationships. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights set out the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and do no harm in their business operations and relationships. The Scottish Government expects our contractors to uphold their responsibilities as set out in the UN Guiding Principles as well as high standards of business ethics. This includes taking strong and proactive measures to prevent human trafficking and exploitation across all areas of their business and supply chain. Where human trafficking and exploitation has occurred, businesses have a responsibility to provide effective access to remedies.

We remain committed to promoting ethical procurement practices and reducing the risks of trafficking and exploitation in our contracts. We do this through the application of procurement law, policy, and contract terms.

The Scottish Government buys goods, services and works for the wider public sector in Scotland and provides procurement support to Scottish Government agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs). Our contracting activity covers four main areas, including:

• Scottish Government core contracts – these are for Scottish Government use only
• Central Government Agencies and NDPBs – these are non-collaborative contracts placed on behalf of individual public bodies in the Scottish central government family
• Sectoral collaborative frameworks – these are let by the Scottish Government for use across the central government family of organisations including executive agencies and NDPBs
• National collaborative contracts/frameworks – these provide framework agreements and contracts for commonly purchased goods, services, utilities and works which are used across the public sector.

In 2023-2024, the Scottish Government managed 656 live contracts worth over £12 billion throughout their lifetimes (across all types of contracting activity). We awarded 322 new regulated contracts with a total value of over £7 billion (across all types of contracting activity).

Procurement guidance encourages buyers to conduct early market research which considers the nature of goods, services or works being bought and potential associated risks. We continue to use the national sustainability tools to inform our commodity strategies which helps us to identify and mitigate potential human rights risks in all of our regulated procurements (from £50,000 and above for goods and £2 million and above for works).

We consider human rights in all of our regulated procurements, building in transparency and provision to commission independent third-party audits in contracts where we have identified a risk of human rights abuses or trafficking and exploitation taking place. An example of this is our suite of national collaborative frameworks for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products, such as the supply of IT Client Devices (laptops, desktops and monitors). These audits can be used to help ensure responsible business conduct, identify potential risks, and demonstrate a commitment to ethical practices.

In addition to guidance, our buyers are encouraged to undertake the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Ethical Procurement and Supply e-learning and online test annually. This has been developed for all levels of procurement professionals to demonstrate their commitment to, and understanding of, acting ethically on behalf of their organisation. The eLearning and test provide information about the key issues of environmental procurement, human rights, and fraud, bribery and corruption.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with a range of organisations on ethical procurement, learning from best practice used by others across Europe, and working with relevant stakeholders. For example, our recent success in delivering the Civil Engineering (Scotland) Framework, by collaborating closely with Industry organisations, Construction Scotland and Civil Engineer Contractors Association, delivered agreement on additional clauses in the terms and conditions to cover Scottish Government policy on four key areas: Fair Work First, Modern Slavery, Protection of Vulnerable Groups and Ethical Requirements.

The clause on modern slavery means that framework contractors are contractually required to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. Contractors must ensure this obligation is passed down through their contractual agreements with subcontractors and the supply chain. They must immediately inform their public body client of any actual or suspected instances of slavery or human trafficking within a supply chain connected to the Framework. Framework contractors must maintain accessible records that allow public body clients to trace the supply chain of all goods, materials, and services provided. By signing the Framework contract, contractors confirm that they have neither been convicted nor subjected to investigations, inquiries, or enforcement proceedings related to slavery and human trafficking.

Additionally, contractors are required to submit an annual slavery and human trafficking report outlining the measures they have taken to ensure that such practices do not occur within their supply chains or any part of their business.

Government officials are continuing to work on the proposed Human Rights Bill the aims of which would be to further advance a human rights culture in Scotland by giving domestic legal effect to international economic, social, cultural rights and environmental standards, as well as rights relating to women, disabled people and racialised minorities, in a way that leads to improved outcomes for people in their everyday lives. Incorporation of such rights would help to ensure that everyone is treated with fairness and dignity. We are developing proposals to apply certain provisions in the proposed Bill to Private Actors, such as businesses, social enterprise and third sector organisations, where this is applicable given the role some private actors have in delivering public services. Our work in this area will be informed by further engagement activity.