Councillors “lacked vision and exported jobs” claim 7/3/12
Sirs,
Last week, the Western Isles SNP announced that it will seek to ensure the procurement
policy of the Comhairle better supports local jobs and businesses.
The SNP government have raised a similar issue at a national level, and have announced that they will shortly be introducing new legislation to make procurement fairer for communities.
This is great news for the islands and for a great many local businesses, whether in the building trade or otherwise. Even Cllr. Angus Campbell, the outgoing leader of the council, has welcomed the announcements made by the SNP.
Tens of millions of pounds are being spent right now on large infrastructure programmes in the Western Isles, but most of the cash is going to offshore businesses. It is difficult not to wonder what this money might have done for the local economy had more of it come to local companies.
Once the schools’ building project is complete, we will have a legacy of bricks and mortar, but the cash will never return. There is no doubting the sense of a missed opportunity.
Unfortunately for us, our “independent” councillors (I use the word in inverted commas, given the number of them who are involved in the Labour Party) did not have the vision to consider all this when they were in charge of procurement.
The Scottish Government had encouraged them to split the schools contract into separate chunks which could then have been tendered for separately by local firms. They decided, instead, to lump them all together into one huge contract.
It doesn't need to be like this. Of course procurement has to be done in a way that’s fair, and that gets the best value for taxpayers’ money. But we need a system of procurement that takes more account of local needs, and I hope that the Scottish Government’s decision to change the law in this area will represent a better deal for the future.
Bob Duncan
SNP candidate for Stornoway South
52 Anderson Road,
Stornoway
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