Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 5
First Report - Defence in Scotland: military landscape
Published 24 Jun 2022
Paragraph 33
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Defence in Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The MOD should, with the assistance of the Scotland Office, initiate a culture change process within its own ranks, and in its prime contractors, that addresses perceptions of engrained hesitancy towards working with SMEs in Scotland, with a view to increasing the proportion of SME spending north of the border to at least 8% by the end of the MOD SME Action Plan implementation period.
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, First Report - Defence in Scotland: military landscape (HC 82), paragraph 33, 24 June 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 September 2022.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's recognition of defence investment in Scotland, rejects the claim of 'engrained hesitancy' towards Scottish SMEs, and mostly notes or commits to continue existing work on the other recommendations.
- On SMEs, the MOD says it "reject[s]" the view that there is an "engrained hesitancy" in the defence sector towards Scottish SMEs. It notes the recommendation to reach 8% of SME spending in Scotland, and points instead to its UK-wide target that 25% of procurement spend goes directly and indirectly to SMEs by the end of 2022.
- On warship procurement, it says the build location of specific vessels "cannot be guaranteed" and that each class of ship will be determined "on a case-by-case basis".
- On local authority collaboration, it notes the recommendations and says it will continue to work with local authorities. It states that "Local economic assessments are not routinely conducted", and is committed to formal partnership arrangements "where appropriate".
- On the recommendations to the Scottish Government about funding and income tax, it says the matters sit outside the MOD's remit and that officials have been asked to share them with Scottish Government counterparts.