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National Construction Week
A members' business debate on motion S2M-1807, in the
name of Marilyn Livingstone, on national construction week, 6 to 13 October
2004.
The Deputy
Presiding Officer (Trish Godman):
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion
S2M-1807, in the name of Marilyn Livingstone, on national construction week,
6 to 13 October 2004.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament supports National Construction Week from 6 to 13 October
2004 and recognises the many economic advantages for Scotland that an
expanding construction industry will bring, notably in employment
preservation and creation, training, skills and provision of the built
environment; acknowledges the continuing work of the Cross Party Group on
Construction which considers and debates all appropriate issues concerning
the structure and operation of the construction industry in Scotland as they
may affect all relevant stakeholders; supports the industry's schemes to
register construction firms through the Construction Licensing Executive and
workers through approved registration schemes, thereby protecting the public
by eradicating rogue traders, enhancing the industry's image and improving
the skills base and health and safety practices, and acknowledges that the
Scottish Executive, local authorities and other government bodies can assist
by supporting registration schemes by insisting that all public works
contractors are committed to them, supporting the education and training
infrastructure so that it meets Scotland's construction requirements, acting
as an enlightened client by ensuring, where possible, that there are advance
programmes of work on which the industry can plan its skills requirements
and provide its workforce with security of employment and ensuring that
public works contracts are fair, open, effective and straightforward to
administer and deliver.
The
Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning (Allan Wilson):
I join other members in thanking Marilyn Livingstone and the cross-party
group on construction, including its vice-convener, Alex Neil, for all the
work that they have done and for giving us the opportunity to debate the
construction industry in Scotland.
As a former construction worker — I suspect that that is something that is
not commonly known — who is now helping, I hope, to construct sound economic
foundations upon which we can build a vibrant industry here in Scotland, I
want to set out what the Executive is doing to help build the competitive
industry that we all want. There has been a great deal of consensus in the
chamber tonight.
We all agree that the construction industry plays a vital role in our
economy, in our built heritage and in our environment. The industry
accounts, according to the figures that I have, for around 5 to 6 per cent
of our GDP—that is another figure to add to those that have been bandied
about. In preparing for the debate, I checked the figures — as members would
expect me to do—and I note that in the first quarter of 2004 the Scottish
construction industry's GDP increased by 1.2 per cent on the fourth quarter
of 2003 and output also increased by 8 per cent in a year-on-year
comparison. By anybody's standards that is a substantial contribution. We
can all agree on the figure that has been referred to, which is that the
industry has a turnover of approximately £10 billion. That makes it one of
the largest sectors in our economy. Whichever figure we use, Alex Neil's
point is ultimately the correct one: the industry makes a major contribution
to our economy more generally.
Consequently, we are supporting the industry in a number of ways. We want to
work with it to address construction issues. We have established a Scottish
construction forum, which comprises industry representatives—including
construction unions—and the enterprise networks, to explore options for a
construction innovation and excellence centre.
John Scott (Ayr) (Con): With regard to helping the industry, does the
minister agree that the fact that the expense of tendering processes for
major public-private partnership projects such as road works is a huge
deterrent to medium-sized companies in quoting for such work? Is he prepared
to examine the tendering process to see whether duplication of effort could
be avoided, which in turn would allow more medium-sized companies to compete
for such work?
Allan Wilson: I will come to procurement, which was raised by Murdo Fraser,
Alex Neil and other members; it is obviously a critical consideration.
I hope to take all the points that members have raised in the debate to the
forum, so that we can have a serious discussion. We will then come back to
the cross-party group, as requested by Marilyn Livingstone, and continue
that discussion. The ability of our small, indigenous companies to
participate in the process and to
get the maximum benefit from the vast sums of money—now public money in a
large part — that are being expended on new construction projects, is an issue
that I particularly want to take a personal interest in. I am happy to give
John Scott that assurance.
The forum meets regularly throughout Scotland. It is now working to address
five key themes. Those are: to raise consumer awareness and address client
education; to counter the incidence of bogus self employment; to ensure that
contracts require full health-and-safety-trained work forces; to encourage
modern work-force-centred management styles in the industry; and, finally,
to address work-force development. I look forward to discussing those
matters with the forum.
In a way, our approach to work-force development embodies who I am and where
I come from. We want to promote skills and training development and we are
helping to raise standards in the construction industry. We are also
investing in modern apprenticeships, increasing the vocational options in
the school curriculum and investing record levels in the further education
sector. I think that I have said in the chamber — not in this building but in
the previous chamber — that my five brothers-in-law are all engineers who
worked in the shipyards in Clydebank at various times and moved on from that
basic skills training to develop careers throughout the world. Many of
them — probably all of them — earn more than I do, because of the foundation of
skills and learning that they gleaned all those years ago in the Clydebank
shipyards. Like the members who have spoken in the debate, I want to promote
more modern apprenticeships, particularly in engineering and the
construction trades, because for people who acquire those basic skills,
economic and employment opportunities surely follow, as night follows day.
The benefits to individuals and the economy cannot be overstressed.
We have heard concerns about rogue traders in the industry. That issue needs
to be tackled. The Executive supports the aims of the construction licensing
executive. The building trade associations are working with the Scottish
Consumer Council and Citizens Advice Scotland to develop a self-regulation
scheme that will combat rogue traders and improve consumer protection in the
domestic market.
On 1 November we will launch the Scottish building standards agency. One of
the ways in which the agency will modernise the building standards system
will be by introducing approved certifiers of design and construction, which
should improve compliance with building regulations and minimise delays in
the issuing of warrants. Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, in partnership with
the sector skills council, CITB - Construction Skills, is also playing a
vital role in supporting more than 4,500 young people and adults to obtain
the skills that the industry needs if it is to thrive. On roughly the first
day of my new post, it was a personal pleasure for me to appoint a
long-standing friend and colleague, Alan Ritchie, to the board. I know that
he will make a valuable contribution to developing the skills agenda.
The Executive attaches great importance to its responsibilities as a
procurer of services from the construction industry. Our procurement
guidance for construction works — the client pack — is available on our website
and is, I think, an exemplar of best practice. We also recognise the
importance of acting as an enlightened client — Murdo Fraser referred to
that — and we are acting to provide the industry with advance information on
our plans for investment in infrastructure services.
Murdo Fraser will forgive me if I do not comment on water tonight. Time will
not permit me to do so. However, the member must be aware of the ongoing
consultation on quality and standards III, which is designed to consider
development issues—"constraints" is not always the correct word.
I was going to refer to the issue that John Swinburne mentioned, but he is
away. We are happy to take all the issues that have been raised to the
Scottish construction forum for a round-table discussion. We will seek the
advice of experts in the industry and thereafter meet members of the
cross-party group on construction, including Marilyn Livingstone. I hope
that all the issues can be discussed and addressed in the spirit of
consensus that has been evident in the chamber during the debate.
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