Questions have been raised over why Scottish, Welsh and Irish firms have not benefited more from lucrative Olympic construction contracts after a parliamentary question revealed Scottish firms were missing out on millions.
A parliamentary question by SNP Olympics spokesperson, Pete Wishart MP, has revealed that Scottish firms had been awarded just £22million worth of contracts, Northern Irish firms £17m, Welsh firms £570,000 and overseas companies £12m while English-based companies were awarded over £5 billion – almost 99% of the total.
Questions have been raised over why Scottish, Welsh and Irish firms have not benefited more from lucrative Olympic construction contracts after a parliamentary question revealed Scottish firms were missing out on millions.
A parliamentary question by SNP Olympics spokesperson, Pete Wishart MP, has revealed that Scottish firms had been awarded just £22million worth of contracts, Northern Irish firms £17m, Welsh firms £570,000 and overseas companies £12m while English-based companies were awarded over £5 billion – almost 99% of the total.
Mr Wishart said the figures raised serious questions over whether contracts had been marketed fairly across the UK to deliver benefits for all.
Mr Wishart said:
“The Olympics were supposed to bring opportunities for businesses all over the country, but it seems Scottish, Welsh and Irish firms have been an afterthought when lucrative contracts were awarded. The mammoth imbalance in where these contracts are going raises real questions on whether they are being marketed fairly across the UK to deliver benefits for all.
The SNP MP also attacked the refusal by the Westminster government to apply the Barnet consequential to London regeneration funding adding:
“It is a double whammy for Scotland because we are already missing out on any consequentials from the massive spending regenerating London’s East End for the Olympics whilst Downing Street denies the same funding to the Scottish Government for Glasgow which will host the Commonwealth Games.
“Spending by the UK Government on regeneration around the London Olympics should generate £165m – £33m per annum over the five years to 2012-13 – for Scotland under the Barnett formula. The expenditure is on areas such as regeneration and there is a strong case argued by all three devolved administrations that this spending should rightly be subject to the Barnett formula in the normal way.
“The UK Government has failed to honour assurances that companies across the country will benefit from the London Olympics. With hundreds of millions still to be spent, UK Ministers must make up for the Scottish short-fall in spending and make sure Scottish firms now benefit from this.”
The figures for top tier contracts up to July are:
-
Scotland: £22,200,816 (0.43%)
-
Wales: £573,678 (0.01%)
-
Northern Ireland: £17,094,646 (0.33%)
-
England: £5,073,551,658 (98.9%)
-
Outside the UK: £12,039,243. (0.23%)
Total value of all contracts: £5,125,460,041
These values represent the sums that the ODA has spent up to the 14th July, rather than the end contract value. The government spokesman confirmed that the end contract value in many cases will not yet be known.
The ODA estimates that it has approximately 140 remaining contracts left, covering the Olympic Park, transport, and ODA corporate requirements. The estimated value of the remaining contracts is worth approximately £275 million.
http://www.london2012.com/business
If you found this article interesting why not make a small contribution in order to help keep the site going – see the paypal button on the right.