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Similarly to Marie McNair, I declare that I was a councillor, at Stirling Council, in the same period.

I think that that needs to be looked at.

Good morning, panel, and thanks for your answers so far.

To what extent is there inconsistency in the way that the sustainable procurement duty is applied to contracts across public bodies? Is there inconsistency? If so, why is that the case?

Does the procurement duty need to be strengthened in any way to help you to achieve your goals?

In 2023, research was carried out that compared Scottish procurement with other UK models, and it was found that, generally, it is a success. It suggested that Scotland is regarded as a leader in the field of sustainable procurement. It is refreshing to hear that Scottish Water has taken on a lot of the procurement regulations, because it thinks that they are a good idea and that it would be best practice. Normally, people try to stay away from that stuff if they can.

Joe Rowan, I am interested in your comments. How can the regulations be strengthened 10 years on? How can they be made better to help organisations such as Scottish Water to achieve net zero targets and so on?

What are your views on pre-legislative and post-legislative scrutiny? I am a reasonably new MSP, so I have seen a lot of pre-legislative scrutiny but I have not seen much post-legislative scrutiny. What is your view on the balance of that? Should we have more post-legislative scrutiny?

Thank you both for joining us again, having been away for a long time, as you said in your initial comments. It must seem quite strange and perhaps a wee bit daunting to be here. Thank you for your comments so far.

I am interested in what a really effective committee would look like. You indicated in your previous comments that some committees are more effective than others, but what is a recipe for a really good committee that is strong on scrutiny and strong on holding the Government to account? What does it look like?

Thank you for that. In a similar vein, what does a good inquiry look like, and how do we make sure that there are good outcomes from inquiries?

Good morning, panel, and thank you for your answers so far.

It is good to hear that the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 has been positive in certain respects. My questions are about procurement and price. I noted David Livey’s earlier comment. For the committee’s benefit, to what extent does price remain the determining factor in decisions to award contracts? Pauline Gordon is smiling. I will go to her first.

Good morning, panel members. Thank you for being here. My questions are on price. Is price still a key determining factor in procurement?