Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is a devolved legislature in the United Kingdom. Procurement Services is responsible for providing goods and services - from IT and security to catering and furniture - to support the effective operation of the Parliament, with an annual spend in the order of £15m.

Problem

Informed by its founding principles of openness, accountability, the sharing of power and equal opportunities, prior to 2002 the Parliament had developed stand-alone policies to cover environmental, health and safety and equalities issues. These were supported by procedural guidance but did not fully recognise the convergence between environmental, social and ethical concerns.

Project

In 2003 the Parliament engaged the Centre for Human Ecology - led by Osbert Lancaster, now with Footprint Consulting - to help them define their policy, produce a statement of principles and develop a 3-step plan for implementation. This involved: interviews and workshops with Parliament staff; researching the sustainable procurement policies of other legislatures and public bodies internationally; understanding constraints and opportunities posed by EU and other legislation; and helping draft a policy and implementation plan that reflected the specific principles, responsibilities and culture of the Scottish Parliament.

As part of the plan's implementation, Procurement Services developed its Responsible Purchasing strategy , committing resources to the achievement of best practice, embedding Responsible Purchasing into all practices and encouraging suppliers to do the same. Following the public launch of the strategy in January 2008, Footprint Consulting was engaged to provide expert research and advice on further developing aspects of procurement policy and practice.

Benefits

At the time we first became involved, the Parliament was already addressing environmental and social issues in purchasing. Our work helped Procurement Services focus their efforts in this complex and rapidly changing area to address environmental, social and ethical issues in a more integrated way in all of the Parliament's purchasing decisions.

Project Leader

Osbert Lancaster, Director. The first phase of the project was managed and delivered by Osbert while executive director of the Centre for Human Ecology.

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