Public Sector | Scottish Fair Trade

Public Sector Commitment to Our Fair Trade Nation.

Commitment

Fair Trade & the Public Sector

The public sector has a significant role to play in maintaining Scotland’s Fair Trade Nation status. For public sector organisations, engagement with Fair Trade can contribute to delivering on their commitments in areas such as sustainable economic development, fair work and human rights diligence, and sustainability and net-zero.

FAIR, ETHICAL & SUSTAINABLE

Procurement

The public sector in Scotland spends billions of pounds on procuring goods and services each year. Both in support of Scotland’s commitment as a Fair Trade Nation and due to the level of expenditure, the public sector has a responsibility to ensure that procurement is fair, ethical and sustainable. Fair Trade is a ready-made solution for the public sector. There are already many great examples in Scotland of ethical procurement in the public sector supporting Fair Trade producers and suppliers.

Through our work to support the procurement of Fair Trade in Scotland, Scottish Fair Trade has been gathering and evaluating data on Fair Trade spend by public sector bodies.

Find our latest Report into Fair Trade expenditure and policy commitments within Scotland’s public sector 2022-2023.

Our Report into Fair Trade expenditure and policy commitments within Scotland’s public sector 2019-2022 highlighted that public bodies have vastly different:

understandings of Fair Trade
commitments to Fair Trade through policies and,
mechanisms to record their annual spend on Fair Trade goods through their finance ordering systems.

To address these differences and to enhance Scotland’s approach to the procurement of fair and ethical trade products, the report recommends two important changes:

a clear definition of Fair Trade being given to public bodies within legislation or guidance – a definition could be used based on the two main international Fair Trade verification organisations.
establishing standardised processes for recording and reporting by public bodies of Fair Trade products procured.

Learning

Fair Trade at Work

In response to demand, we have developed an e-learning Module entitled Fair Trade at Work in the Public Sector. The programme was designed in collaboration with professionals from across the public sector who recognise how Fair Trade can positively contribute towards social justice, global citizenship, and sustainability targets.

The Module supports learners to:

Find out what Fair Trade and being a Fair Trade Nation means, and how it helps tackle wider issues of concern, including climate change, sustainability and inequality
Discover why Fair Trade is good for Scotland, and how this fits into the work of the public sector
Examine how they can engage in Fair Trade to help further their own workplace aims and add value to their actions

If you would like to find out more about the course, or enquire about our tailored learning opportunities, please contact learning@scottishfairtrade.org.