Dr. Paul Davis:

The other part that has occurred is probably regionalisation. Wales is divided on a north-south basis and the authorities there are very clear that there is an imbalance. As a result, they have taken a very proactive approach to managing regionalisation. Where they wish to have SMEs in the north participate, they will proactively try bias to do this as a disadvantaged area. Again, lessons in that regard can be learned here.

Scotland sets particular targets. For example, local authorities will set targets of a 75% participation rate within a local region and these targets are then measured against whether contracts been awarded to companies within the region. Again, we have not put targets in place and there has been a debate on whether we are already achieving them. If one does not set a target, one does not know whether one is achieving what one wants to achieve. Part of the issue here is that we wait for the statistics to emerge before we establish targets, rather than setting targets and then trying to find the statistics to prove that we are achieving them. That might be a better way to proceed.

On regionalisation, it was mentioned that we were breaking into lots. Throughout the European Union organisations have been proactively encouraged to break into lots. The example given here related to cleaning and it was stated this service could only be delivered locally. That is a great idea, unless it is a national contract, in which case one buys through a facilities management company nationally. That company will then outsource or subcontract the work through a local operator. At what point does the procurement process take responsibility for delivery locally as opposed to just taking responsibility for a contract at national level? The debate in this regard is interesting. In the past three to four years Ministers have stated we are actually contributing to local economies by awarding national contracts because we ensure the work is subcontracted throughout to local operators or suppliers. There is absolutely no onus on a commercial entity to subcontract, unless we legislate for it, in which case we are interfering in the competitive marketplace. If we award a national contract whereby cleaning services could be delivered to all schools nationally through one or two facilities management companies, why are they obliged to use local suppliers? In commercial terms, they are not so obliged. This is something that is missing and it is a clear difference between Ireland and its close neighbours in that matters are being more proactively managed at local level than is the case here.