3. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's guidance to local authorities on the procurement of public services? OAQ(5)0140(FM)

Yes. Local authorities are expected to comply with the principles of the Wales procurement policy statement to help maximise the economic benefit of procurement for Wales.

First Minister, the largest privately owned waste management company in Wales, the Potter Group, which is based in my constituency, has been excluded from bidding for a waste management contract in Bridgend County Borough Council because it doesn’t meet the requirements of having an annual turnover of more than £50 million. Would you agree with me that it’s disproportionate to require such a large annual turnover, which results in the exclusion of even the largest waste management company in Wales from bidding for these types of contracts, and would you commit to reviewing Welsh Government guidance to ensure local authorities are—in this regard to procurement contracts?

He raises an important point on behalf of a business in his community. If he would write to me with further detail then I’ll give it, of course, the attention to detail that the question deserves.

First Minister, there’s been considerable progress in harnessing the power of the public pound, but there’s still more to do. Professor Kevin Morgan, who’s one of Europe’s leading experts on sustainable food, has pointed to a skills gap as a major challenge ahead of us. He’s made suggestions about recruiting a dozen skilled professionals to be able to give the Welsh public sector the skilled professionals it needs to further harness the power of that pound. Would you be willing to look into Professor Morgan’s proposals?

Of course. I know those local authorities, some have been better than others over the years: Carmarthenshire, for example, historically, has been very strong when it comes to procurement, at one point employing seven professionals just in the one county. Other local authorities have not been as proactive in terms of employing procurement specialists. We would expect the public sector in Wales, of course, to procure locally as much as possible and that’s been successful. Welsh contractors, for example, are currently winning 77 per cent of all major construction awards and that’s up from 30 per cent prior to the introduction of the supplier qualification information database approach. Results from the first 259 projects that have taken place that are worth £1.2 billion show that 82 per cent has been reinvested in Wales in the last few years. So, we are seeing a much, much better situation when it comes to procurement, although, of course, we’re willing to look at anything that actually improves the situation further.

I think that import substitution is probably going to become even more imperative, economically, to us as a result possibly of the clumsy and confusing approach to single market access that we’re currently seeing from this Government, but can the First Minister tell us if the kind of advice and direction given to local authorities currently by the Welsh Government includes positive support of things like a dynamic purchasing system, which allows companies, new companies, to supply as part of a contract, even after another organisation has been appointed, and away from the overuse of framework contracts and the bundling of contracts, which are inimical, really, to providing opportunities particularly to small and medium-sized enterprises?

It’s absolutely right that local authorities should look at un-bundling contracts; that was one of the problems years ago where local companies could not bid. We saw it in the health service where there was a combination of trying to get in big suppliers and, at that time, Welsh suppliers weren’t in a position to supply the health service; they were unable to. That was resolved. Far from being clumsy in terms of the situation on the EU, I think we’re absolutely clear—I’m not entirely sure where his party are on this, but I’ve been as clear as I can be, and I’m sure these views will be developed between the parties over the next few weeks and months.

The procurement policy statement does provide clear direction to the Welsh public sector. If that’s applied effectively then, of course, we can see a positive impact for our economy and our communities. We’re seeing that since the SQuID process began. We are, of course, committed to helping smaller and third sector firms as well to access the public procurement access in Wales, and a joint bidding guide is helping smaller and micro businesses to form consortia to help to bid for those contracts where otherwise they wouldn’t be in a position to bid successfully for them because of their size and because of the nature of the supply needed as part of that contract.

Following Brexit, we will be able to set our own public procurement rules to suit our own economic and procurement needs, rather than the needs of big business in other countries. What measures are you going to put into place to give preference to Welsh businesses when awarding public procurement contracts, and what changes are you going to make to public procurement rules to make it easier for small businesses to compete for such contracts?

I think I’ve answered part of that question, but she needs to be careful about what she wishes for, because it would also mean that companies from Wales and the rest of the UK would be blocked from bidding for contracts in the much larger market of the European Union, which is not something that we would want to see. That said, it’s hugely important that we can develop a procurement policy further in the future in order to build on the already successful results that we have seen, to make sure that more and more money is kept locally.

I’ve just come from the celebration of school meals hosted by Lesley Griffiths—delighted to hear from the head of the school meals service for Bridgend that they’re pitching for the charter mark for their school meals service, which is what we enjoy upstairs in our canteen—and I wondered what help the national food procurement service is going to be able to provide schools so that all schools can pitch for the charter mark, in particular in relation to fruit and vegetables. Only 3 per cent of fruit and vegetables is locally sourced, with a massive trade deficit resulting. What ambition, therefore, does the Welsh Government have to ensure that all our schools have the charter mark, just like Oldham does?

I thank the Member for the question. Bridgend is a popular reference point this afternoon I can see, but I’m glad to hear what she heard earlier on today. The point she makes is an important one. Fruit and vegetables are difficult; we don’t produce that many in Wales. We probably couldn’t supply all our schools in Wales because of the nature of our topography and our climate; we tend towards dairy and meat production. That said, in terms of other things that can be supplied, the National Procurement Service is working closely to improve the food safety and nutrition of all food products, and schools are already delivering nutritionally balanced meals under the Healthy Eating in Schools initiative. NPS will improve the sourcing and ranges available through continued strategic supplier relationship management.