1.1 The Scottish Executive and the STUC are committed to the elimination of the two-tier workforce. In making this commitment, the Minister for Finance and Public Services undertook to review issues of employment practice arising from Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts across the public services in Scotland. Within the context of the Memorandum of Understanding between Scottish Executive (SE) and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) he established a joint, SE/STUC short-life working group to undertake such a review and to draft a protocol and guidance concerning employment issues that would apply to all public sector organizations (PSO's) in Scotland where they contract for facilities and services from 'service providers' under a PPP.
1.2 PPP is one of several procurement options available to PSOs: it is not the only, or preferred, option. It constitutes a relatively small proportion of public investment in Scotland. No PPP can proceed unless it is demonstrated to offer better value for money than provision by the public sector through rigorous application of the appropriate criteria.
1.3 This protocol seeks to ensure that sound and fair processes are applied by PSO's and potential private sector partners as the decision-making and procurement processes proceed, including consultation with relevant trades unions. In this protocol, "trades unions" is deemed to mean recognised trades unions and, where there is no recognised trades union, other representatives of the workforces which are affected under a PPP situation.
1.4 The recommendations of the Joint Working Group have been approved by Scottish Ministers and this document sets out the agreed protocol. It supplements existing PPP guidance in Scotland. Accordingly, compliance with the Protocol should be a condition of service specifications and subsequent contracts for PPP projects in order to support the use of funding agreements between the Scottish Executive and PSOs as an enforcement mechanism. It covers the interests of PSO's, PPP consortia, and sub-contractors and is seen as an important measure in removing the scope for two-tier workforces