I noted an article in the Forfar Dispatch about Angus Council contract for new housing stock last month. I agree with “An Angus Employer” who complained in a letter [4 November] that the contract was not awarded to a local Angus business. 

Unfortunately Councils in Scotland are tied to the procurement policies of the SNP government. They have centralised the process and made it extremely difficult for smaller local businesses to be approved to even bid for contracts. The approval process and level of paperwork is beyond local builders and service providers. I have discussed this very issue with builders in Angus before and after this year’s General Election.  

That is why I was delighted to be able to support a new procurement policy for the Scottish Lib Dems at their recent Autumn Conference. This calls for a replacement for the SNP’s procurement body, Scotland Excel, in favour of a unified body that will make local and central government contracts accessible for smaller local businesses. 

I know that local Councillors are as frustrated about the issue as local businesses and have strived to help them meet the arduous requirements imposed on them by the SNP’s simplistic one-size-fits-all procurement policy. 

After next year’s Scottish election, the situation will hopefully change.  Let us hope it is not too late for local firms struggling to stay afloat during the recession.

You can read more about the situation by clicking here for an article in The Courier.

I recently visited the Angus Volunteer Centre in Arbroath to discuss their work with Gary Malone and Fiona Walsh. Gary and Fiona showed me around the Centre and discussed their future plans and the issues facing the centre and volunteers.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gary and Fiona at a Voluntary Sector Conference last year in Perth. So it was great to meet them again to find out more about what the Volunteers Centre is doing to help involve Angus residents through volunteering, who might otherwise feel isolated from the community.

Gary and the Volunteer Centre have a refreshingly unique attitude to volunteering. When considering volunteers, we normally focus on how they help and care for others. The Volunteer Centre is pioneering an innovative approach by encouraging those in need of help themselves, to get involved through volunteering, and so help themselves as well as others.

I heard from Gary and Fiona of training and skills provided to volunteers to help them develop work experience, which then can lead on to paid employment. Equally fascinating was Fiona Walsh’s personal experience, where volunteering is not just a route into employment, but has become a passion. Fiona has a well known ability to engage with the younger generation in Angus to discuss drug and alcohol abuse. She thoroughly deserves her BNI Nexus Young Employee of the Year Award.

Gary and I also discussed the Volunteer’s Centre’s role in providing services for Angus Council and developments in the relationship between Government and the voluntary sector.

One common theme I find talking to businesses, farmers, volunteers and individuals in Arbroath and across Angus is the lack of flexibility and common sense central government arrangement provides to local councils. When Councils tender for services, it is understandable that the SNP Government wants to ensure standards of quality, however current national arrangements can unduly benefit large national companies. In some cases these companies will subcontract to volunteer organisations, without passing on the full financial benefit.

The inflexibility of the national arrangements often discourages or discriminates against small, local voluntary groups from offering their services directly. So their invaluable local knowledge, help and experience can get lost. Worst of all, it could also put volunteers off getting involved, which would be an immense shame.