Councils urged to think local for spending
COUNCILS could give Scotland’s small businesses a £600million boost by upping the amount of cash they spend with local firms.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) wants town halls across the country to increase their spending with local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by 2% a year until 2021.
That would give Scots firms a £600m boost by 2021, the organisation said.
Scotland’s 32 local authorities spent a combined total of £6.1billion buying in goods and services in 2015-16, according to statistics – but on average councils spent just under a fifth (19.7%) of this cash with smaller firms in their area.
The FSB said that meant councils spent approximately £1.2bn with local businesses, adding that if 10% more of the overall procurement budget went to local firms, this would rise to £1.8bn. There are some 348,000 SMEs operating across Scotland – making up more than 99% of all businesses and providing an estimated 1.2m jobs.
FSB Scottish policy convener Andy Willox said: “Council budgets are under significant pressure. That’s why it is important that they squeeze every drop of value out of their spending power by targeting it on their local economies.
“We’re calling on every Scottish council to increase their spending with local firms by 2% per year, delivering a £600m boost to Scottish business by 2021.”
The FSB made the call as it issued its manifesto for the council elections on May 4, with Mr Willox stating: “Our manifesto sets out practical measures councils can implement to boost their local economies.”