The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Jane Hutt, and amendment 2 in the name of Paul Davies.

We now move on the Plaid Cymru debate on public sector procurement and construction, and I call on Dai Lloyd to move the motion.

Motion NDM6268 Rhun ap Iorwerth

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Notes the importance of forward skills planning to meet the future needs of the construction industry to deliver infrastructure projects in Wales and beyond.

2. Believes that reform of public sector procurement in Wales is needed to take full advantage of the social, economic and environmental potential of the purchasing power of the Welsh public sector.

3. Calls on the Welsh Government:

a) to bring forward a procurement bill to make it mandatory for public sector bodies to follow Welsh Government policy on procurement, to maximise the social and economic impact of construction;

b) establish a national framework for public sector procurement in Wales to ensure the ambitions set out in the Wales Procurement Policy Statement are delivered;

c) to increase levels of capital infrastructure spending to boost the economy in Wales, providing a much needed boost for the construction sector;

d) consider the case for establishing a national construction college for Wales to develop high quality skills in the construction industry.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. The purpose of this debate this afternoon is to highlight the need for a better system of planning for skills and training, as well as improving procurement practices in the construction sector in Wales. There are a number of infrastructure projects on the horizon over the next few years, which offer a golden opportunity for construction companies across Wales—large and small companies—as well as the wider supply chain. Some of these projects include the possible tidal lagoon in Swansea, the Cardiff and Valleys metro, the M4 relief road—whichever option is selected there, someone will have to build it—the electrification of the Welsh rail lines, the Llandeilo bypass and many other projects. So, to ensure that wales benefits economically from these projects, then the Welsh Government must improve procurement practices and ensure that the necessary skills and expertise are available in the Welsh workforce. We need to make the most of these opportunities. Our proposal today calls for more capital expenditure on infrastructure in Wales, in order to give an additional boost to the sector across Wales.

Last year, the OECD produced a report mentioning that an economy such as the UK should be spending some 5 per cent of its national income, GDP, on modernising its infrastructure. Now, in that year, 1.5 per cent GDP was spent, which was lower than the figure of 3.2 per cent spent in 2010. The figure is yet lower here in Wales. This ambition has been understood by the Scottish Government, which has declared that it’s to create an infrastructure programme of over £20 billion as part of its programme for government over the next five years. If we’re going to bring years of economic decline to an end here in Wales, then ambition is crucial. We in Wales must increase our expenditure on infrastructure to a similar level and ambition to that which has been shown by our Celtic cousins in Scotland.

Fel rhan o’n gweledigaeth ar gyfer comisiwn seilwaith cenedlaethol i Gymru, lleisiwyd yr angen i Lywodraeth Cymru fachu ar y cyfle a roddwyd i ni i gynyddu lefelau gwariant cyfalaf er mwyn buddsoddi yn seilwaith ein cenedl. Ar hyn o bryd rydym yn byw mewn cyfnod o arian rhad gyda chyfraddau llog ar lefelau is nag erioed, sy’n golygu na fu erioed adeg fwy costeffeithiol ar gyfer buddsoddi mewn seilwaith. Mewn gwlad fel Cymru, mae peth o’r seilwaith mwyaf sylfaenol—y gallu i deithio ar hyd y wlad ar y trên o’r gogledd i’r de, er enghraifft—ar goll, heb sôn am y math o seilwaith y bydd rhywun ei angen ac yn ei ddisgwyl yn yr unfed ganrif ar hugain.

Mae sector adeiladu Cymru yn wynebu heriau sylweddol dros y blynyddoedd nesaf i sicrhau bod ganddo’r gallu angenrheidiol i ddefnyddio’r cyfleoedd sy’n dod. Er mwyn i’r sector allu bodloni’r anghenion hyn, mae gwella lefelau cynhyrchiant yn y diwydiant adeiladu yn hollbwysig. Mae llif arian gwael, a achosir yn aml gan arferion talu gwael ar hyd y gadwyn gyflenwi yn rhwystr mawr i wella cynhyrchiant. Mae’r sector adeiladu yng Nghymru wedi ei ddominyddu’n bennaf gan fusnesau bach a chanolig, gyda llawer ohonynt yn chwarae rolau allweddol drwy’r gadwyn gyflenwi, yn cyflawni ein contractau adeiladu yn y sector cyhoeddus. Mae’r busnesau bach hyn yn hanfodol i les economaidd Cymru ac mae Plaid Cymru yn bendant y dylid defnyddio polisi caffael cyhoeddus i gefnogi’r busnesau hyn ledled Cymru.

Mae llif arian effeithlon yn hanfodol i is-gontractwyr llai ac nid yw ond yn deg eu bod yn cael eu talu’n amserol yn unol â pherfformiad ar gontract am helpu i gyflawni’r prosiectau adeiladu a seilwaith sy’n allweddol i economi Cymru. Mae’r defnydd o gyfrifon banc prosiect mewn contractau adeiladu yn ymrwymiad yn y strategaeth gaffael gwaith adeiladu o fis Gorffennaf 2013 a hefyd yn cefnogi datganiad polisi caffael Cymru a gyhoeddwyd ym mis Rhagfyr 2012.

Gadewch i mi egluro’n gyflym pam y mae cyfrifon banc prosiect mor bwysig ar gyfer mentrau bach a chanolig yng Nghymru. Gyda phrosiectau adeiladu yn y sector cyhoeddus, mae’n annhebygol iawn y gall y cleient, megis yr awdurdod lleol, fynd i’r wal. Felly, yn yr ystyr hwnnw, caiff yr adeiladydd haen 1 ei ddiogelu rhag unrhyw ansolfedd posibl ymhellach i fyny’r gadwyn gyflenwi. Fodd bynnag, ni roddir unrhyw amddiffyniad o’r fath i’r rhai sy’n rhan o’r gadwyn gyflenwi, gyda’r rhan fwyaf ohonynt yn gwmnïau bach a chanolig eu maint. Mae cyfrif banc prosiect yn bot diogel, sy’n sicrhau bod pawb yn y gadwyn gyflenwi yn cael eu talu, gan nad yw’r arian yn gorfod mynd drwy’r gwahanol haenau contractio, a dyna pam rydym yn ei gefnogi. Ym mis Ionawr 2014, cyhoeddodd y cyn-Weinidog Cyllid dri chynllun peilot ar draws tri awdurdod lleol gwahanol ar gyfer defnyddio cyfrifon banc prosiect. Fodd bynnag, ers hynny, cyn belled ag y gwn i, ni fu unrhyw symud ymlaen a mandadu cyfrifon banc prosiect yn gyffredinol, fel sy’n digwydd yn yr Alban a Gogledd Iwerddon. Drwy fandadu cyfrifon banc prosiect yn y sector cyhoeddus, gall Llywodraeth Cymru o leiaf roi diogelwch i fusnesau bach a chanolig yng Nghymru a gwella eu llif arian a’u sicrwydd o gael eu talu.

Rhaid gweithredu hefyd mewn perthynas â chadw arian parod. Mae cadw symiau dargadw yn ôl yn arfer hen ffasiwn sy’n ddiangen yn y diwydiant adeiladu modern. Y warant orau o ansawdd yw dewis cadwyn gyflenwi gymwys a chymwysedig sydd wedi ymrwymo i geisio cyrraedd y safonau perthnasol uchaf mewn iechyd a diogelwch, hyfforddiant, a pherfformiad technegol. Gallai system achredu a chyfundrefn drwyddedu, fel yn yr Unol Daleithiau ac Awstralia, liniaru’r broblem hon yn gyfan gwbl. Nid yn unig y byddai hyn yn gwella llif arian yn y sector, ond byddai hefyd yn gwella safonau iechyd a diogelwch, sy’n rhywbeth y dylai pawb ohonom ei hyrwyddo.

Er mwyn sicrhau bod Cymru yn cael cymaint o fudd economaidd â phosibl o brosiectau seilwaith yn y dyfodol yng Nghymru a thu hwnt, mae arnom angen diwydiant adeiladu sy’n feinach ac yn fwy heini, gyda busnesau bach a chanolig sy’n cael eu grymuso i chwarae rhan fwy cynhyrchiol. Wrth gloi, gwell caffael mewn gwaith adeiladu, drwy gael timau prosiect integredig sy’n cynnwys yr holl gadwyn gyflenwi, yw’r ddelfryd—ac wedi’i gynhyrchu yn Siambr y Senedd y safwn ynddi heddiw. Diolch yn fawr.

Thank you. I have selected the two amendments to the motion, and I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to move, formally, amendment 1, tabled in the name of Jane Hutt.

Amendment 1—Jane Hutt

Delete all after point 1 and replace with:

2. Notes the work of the Welsh Government in developing the Wales Procurement Policy Statement which has lowered barriers to procurement for small and medium sized enterprises right across Wales.

3. Recognises the need to grow capability within the Welsh public sector to maximise the impact of procurement spend within the Welsh economy.

4. Notes the intention of the Welsh Government to develop a new programme for procurement to help enable the Welsh public sector to make intelligent use of policy and legislation across Wales.

5. Recognises the Welsh Government’s capital investment plans and the significant procurement opportunities presented by the South Wales and North East Wales metros; the 21st Century schools programme; the M4 relief road; building 20,000 affordable homes; improvements to Wales’ transport network and other major infrastructure projects.

Amendment 1 moved.

Formally.

Thank you. I call on Mohammad Asghar to move amendment 2, tabled in the name of Paul Davies.

Amendment 2—Paul Davies

Add as new point at end of motion:

Calls on the Welsh Government to implement measures that will enable Welsh companies, in particular small and medium sized businesses, to access public sector contracts.

Amendment 2 moved.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. I formally move the amendment in the name of Paul Davies.

Public procurement plays a crucial role in the Welsh economy. A Welsh Government written statement in February 2011 revealed that the Welsh public sector spends over £4.3 billion on external goods and services. This equates to around one third of its annual budget. Of this figure, the Welsh Local Government Association estimates that 53 per cent was spent by local authorities. If we are to take full advantage of the full potential offered by the purchasing power of the public sector, reform is required. There is clearly a need, therefore, to better scrutinise procurement policy and its impact across Wales. The Welsh Government must appreciate the role of procurement as a tool for stimulating home-grown economic growth.

Wales is currently seeing a renaissance of large-scale infrastructure projects. The recent and very welcome announcement of the Swansea bay city region deal follows the Cardiff city deal. We look forward to other projects in the pipeline, such as the M4 relief road, the various tidal lagoons and the metro projects. Every pound spent in infrastructure projects directly boosts GDP by £1.30, with indirect effect to £2.84 per pound spent. It is vital, therefore, that the Welsh public sector focuses on providing the maximum benefit for Welsh communities and takes responsibility for generating economic, social and environmental growth.

By targeting recruitment and training opportunities in public contracts, a contribution can be made to addressing the issues of poverty and reduced social mobility. Organisations in the private and voluntary sectors are vital to local and regional economies. They must review public sector contracts in a positive way, and should do business with them. The public sector must make better use of their purchasing power to create opportunities for jobs and training for regeneration, and to maximise the value for money. We must have regular updates, especially on how local authorities are adopting and putting in practice these principles. We need all information on contracts being awarded, and the real outcome of these contracts on local economies. The bidding system must be streamlined and made easier, to ensure bids are not discouraged, and it is essential that all procurement processes must be completely transparent and ensure stability and confidence in the procurement system in Wales. We therefore need strong monitoring procedures to ensure transparency is maintained.

The number of public sector contracts awarded to Welsh businesses needs to grow. The opening up of more contract opportunities is vital for smaller local suppliers and third sector organisations. We need to break down the barriers through assessing the public sector’s procurement opportunities. The Federation of Small Businesses has long called for a breakdown of contracts into lots, and that a simplification of the process should continue. Deputy Presiding Officer, we need to ensure the public sector in Wales is geared up for this challenge. We must give Welsh small and medium-sized businesses a level playing field in bidding for contracts. We need to grasp the possibilities that have been presented to us. We have to ensure we maximise the benefits of reforming public procurement for the people of Wales from now on. Thank you.

I’m going to focus on the role of women in the workforce in the construction sector. The words ‘women’ and ‘construction’ don’t go together traditionally, and it’s time for that to change. At present, there are far fewer women than men in this sector. Encouraging more women to join the construction workforce could overcome some of the problems in the sector for the future, as well as offer new career pathways for women in Wales.

The construction sector in Wales is growing faster than anywhere else in the UK. With projects such as the Bontnewydd relief road and the Llandeilo bypass, as well as the south Wales metro, Wylfa and the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, there will be increasing demand for skilled workers in the sector. The regional skills partnership in north Wales estimates that 8,500 workers will be needed when Wylfa is built. Raising awareness of these opportunities among young women will help to deal with the skills gaps in the future.

Of the 113,000 people who work in the construction sector, only 10 per cent are women. Women are much more likely to do office work, and it’s estimated that 1 per cent only of female workers work on a site. Dealing with this difference sooner rather than later would allow the sector to use the potential of a much wider skills pool as it grows, and to overcome a shortage of workers with skills in the future.

Apprenticeships—that’s the key pathway into the construction sector, but the division is very clear here, with 99 per cent of construction apprenticeships being filled by men. Evidently, therefore, we need to do a lot more if we want to meet that workforce demand in the future.

One way to do that is to use public procurement in a constructive way, in order to help public bodies to do more to deal with the gender imbalance and promote equality in the construction sector. It has been accepted in Wales that public procurement should provide economic, social and environmental benefits, and the Welsh Government took positive steps to ensure that. However, further steps could be taken to ensure that public procurement also helps to promote equality between the genders.

Examples of this are seen in Europe, and I want to refer to one example of the practice in Berlin, where, for large contracts for companies with more than 11 workers, the contracts have to include measures to promote women in that work. Companies have to provide details in a separate statement. Even though this is not the part of the appraisal or awarding process, the companies have to adhere to that statement. The measures include having a qualified plan to include women and increase the percentage of women in senior positions, flexible working hours, equal pay and childcare facilities. The companies are monitored as they implement these commitments that they’ve agreed to, and they can face sanctions if they fail to do that.

There is an argument that it should be a requirement for every company in Wales that receives public money to show that they understand gender issues in their sector and that they have a plan in place to deal with that. So, what about starting with the construction sector? The kind of procurement that is undertaken in Berlin can be a powerful method to increase the number of female workers in the construction sector and to overcome a shortage of jobs in the sector in the future. Thank you very much.

I want to just talk about the opportunities posed by two Government policies. One is that Carl Sargeant announced an additional £30 million towards building affordable new homes, and the other is the Welsh Government’s target of 100,000 apprenticeships being created by 2021.

I think it’s very important that we use this opportunity to align these apprenticeships to the skill force that we’re actually going to need for the future Welsh economy. It won’t happen organically. Political drivers are required to make it happen.

I particularly refer to the way in which we build the homes that we need for the future. Private housebuilders are resistant to change and continue to build houses that are inadequately insulated and lack sustainable energy generation—an unholy alliance of the big six housebuilders with the big six energy providers. Now, the construction industry knows that low-carbon homes are achievable, but we have to have clear regulations, applicable to all new buildings, as well as a sufficiently skilled workforce with appropriate levels of knowledge of the precision skills required for zero-carbon home building. I hope that leaving the EU is not being interpreted as a cue for abandoning the requirement for all new buildings to be zero carbon by 2020.

We have excellent made-in-Wales examples in Pentre Solar and the SOLCER house, which demonstrates that we have the knowledge, but we just need to apply it. We need to ensure that we have all the apprenticeship skills lined up so that we can both build the homes we need for our own needs here in Wales and also pitch in for opportunities for construction work across Europe. So, I was astonished to be told, at a recent conference to brief employers about the new apprenticeship levy, by a senior Welsh Government official that he did not know how we would deliver on these important precision skills required. I don’t think that’s good enough.

We have to remember that it was Gordon Brown who led the way in 2006, announcing a zero-carbon homes policy, and Britain was the first country to make such a commitment. Had we kept to that commitment, we would have ensured that all new dwellings from last year would have generated as much energy on site through renewable resources as they would actually need in heating, hot water, lighting and ventilation. So, it was an absolute tragedy that ‘Six-jobs’ George Osborne axed these measures in regulations in July 2015—one of the first acts of the new Conservative Government—hidden away in a so-called productivity plan. The chief executive of the UK Green Building Council said it was the death knell for the zero-carbon homes policy.

Uncertainty breeds inaction, and the industry is always reticent to make firm steps to deliver low- and zero-carbon homes, unless there is clear guidance and legislation in place, because they feel that Governments have a track record of changing the goalposts, and, in light of what happened with Gordon Brown and George Osborne, that is understandable. But I feel that the Welsh Government, as a matter of urgency, needs to demonstrate its leadership by setting zero-carbon building regulations so that the new homes for the future that we are going to be building are built to last, like the ones built by Nye Bevan’s leadership in the 1940s and early 1950s, which are still widely sought after as homes to live in.

Will you take an intervention?

Yes.

Thank you for your comments. I’m enjoying your contribution greatly, but do you therefore not regret that you actually supported very modest targets in terms of changing regulations under the last Government, whereas others of us were arguing to strengthen those regulations?

Well, I’ve always supported stronger regulations and I will continue to do so.

So, I think we have an opportunity here to marry our ambitions in relation to our apprentices with our need to build more homes. So, I think there are many challenges to overcome, because it isn’t just getting the skills together; it’s also that there are knowledge gaps as well in ensuring that we understand the new design approaches, the new materials and the technologies that are changing all the time in relation to energy generation and conservation.

So, there will need to be more widespread understanding and expertise in the selection of, particularly, low and zero-carbon energy technologies, depending on the particularities under consideration, but I feel that this is a really strong opportunity for ensuring that our procurement policies and our skills policies are married up with the need for decent homes for the future.

My contribution to today’s debate will focus primarily on the need for greater skills planning and training in Wales within the construction sector if we want to achieve the optimum benefit for the people of Wales in terms of job creation, utilisation of the local supply chain and investment in skills, so that we can meet the demands of our incoming infrastructure projects.

The importance of effective skills planning to the success of infrastructure delivery continues to be highlighted as one of the most pressing issues facing the construction and engineering sectors in Wales. So, to capitalise on the largely positive construction environment in Wales at the moment, the Welsh Government and industry must work closely together to recruit talented people and train the workforce whilst also of course avoiding unnecessary skills mismatches.

For skills planning, innovation and cost effectiveness should be the key drivers for future growth and reform. Closer partnership between employers and Welsh Government is crucial of course, as well as linking labour market intelligence to regional learning and skills partnerships. In Wales, we have regional skills partnerships that bring together a range of relevant bodies to co-ordinate and plan for skills development. However, there is no formal structure to co-ordinate their work at a national level.

In Plaid Cymru’s proposals for a national infrastructure commission for Wales, we called for skills planning and forecasting to be a central role within the remit of the commission, which could have provided that level of central co-ordination. Whilst giving evidence to the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills committee, both CECA Wales and CITB Cymru agreed that construction sector skills should be part of the commission’s remit and that it should produce a national infrastructure plan for skills to forecast requirements and avoid gaps in demand. Unfortunately, the Welsh Government rejected this idea, claiming that the current structures were appropriate to meet future demand. I suppose only time will tell as to whether they’re right or not.

Our motion today specifically calls on the Welsh Government to consider establishing a national construction college for Wales. Back in February 2015, two years ago now, the then Minister for skills said that the Welsh Government were working very hard to get a construction college under way as soon as possible and that it would be aligned to employer needs. However, as far as I’m aware, very little has happened since then.

So, why do we need a national construction college for Wales? Over the years, some apprentices have had to leave Wales to gain industry recognised construction skills. The national construction college, as a strategic entity, would ensure that Wales has home-grown skills in place to meet the construction industry’s current and, indeed, future needs. The case for a new-build national construction college is based on the model for the rest of the UK’s national construction colleges—to satisfy the demand for courses not currently available in Wales. It would provide provision that’s more tailored to the needs of industry in Wales, with expert teaching staff and facilities that can help raise the profile and, indeed, the attractiveness of the sector.

A new-build facility could offer a dedicated centre of excellence with significant advantages, allowing, for example, large-scale equipment and realistic practice on a scale unlikely to be acquired within existing provision, and enabling Welsh construction firms to develop a broader base of skills in order to compete effectively within Wales and, of course, outside of Wales. Such a facility could potentially benefit the Welsh construction sector by bringing advanced resources and equipment within economical reach.

There are significant challenges ahead of us if we’re to ensure that the construction sector in Wales has the capacity to deliver on infrastructure projects and the future infrastructure projects that we know are coming. However, there are also significant opportunities if action is taken to meet that demand.

I recognise that strides have been made in recent years, such as the establishment of the construction innovation centre for Wales in Swansea that’s set to open in September this year. However, a strategic entity is required that provides if not all then certainly much more of the construction sector training provision that we require here in Wales. So, a key message for us from this debate this afternoon is that better engagement with the sector is now essential to improve and deliver enhanced forward skills planning and long-term improvement to the provision of training within the construction sector.

Thank you. Michelle Brown.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Isn’t it great that we are now able to have this debate and that the results will actually mean something? So, I would first like to thank Plaid for bringing the debate. There would, of course, be no point in us talking about how we can improve procurement if Plaid had had their way and been successful in their attempts to hoodwink the public into voting to remain in the EU, because the EU would not allow us to be in control of our own procurement rules. Plaid have done this a lot recently, bringing debates that would mean nothing were we to stay in the EU, yet at the same time they say leaving will be a disaster. It doesn’t say a lot for the party’s confidence in their own proposals if, at the same time as presenting them, they maintain that we would be better off not being able to implement them.

The motion does have its merits, though. Forward skills planning is essential, and Governments have consistently failed to do this, hence the current shortage in construction skills, nurses, doctors and the like. It also makes complete sense that Welsh people and businesses should have easier access to public sector contracts. I’m assuming that’s what they mean, but, just for clarification I would like to ask: are Plaid talking about Welsh jobs for Welsh people when they talk about maximising the social and economic impact of construction? If they are, why don’t they just come out and say it? It’s nothing to be ashamed of—it’s one of the things that people who want to leave the EU voted for. There’s no need to dress it up in fancy corporate speak, but, also, don’t pretend it isn’t something you argued against when you were trying to paint UKIP as isolationist.

It is certainly the case that we could do much better in terms of a co-ordinated approach to procurement, but we also need to be careful that we don’t spend so much money on making sure that we’re getting a good social and economic return for our public sector cash that the benefits are lost to the cost of administration. We certainly should not pursue the old Blair Government policy of inventing projects and jobs simply to get the unemployment figures down—any project using public money must be of benefit to Wales in its own right.

I accept that not all of this motion is about spending; there is a very relevant mention of training. I agree that any skills shortage in Wales should be tackled, and if there is, and continues to be, an identifiable skills shortage in the construction sector, colleges should be helped to develop a faculty and courses that deliver quality training. However, I am concerned that an entire college dedicated to construction could at some point see a desire for construction that is motivated more by trying to justify the existence of the college than the existence of a genuine need for additional construction—a situation where the tail starts to wag the dog. A national construction college is a very grandiose-sounding development, which will no doubt be a headline-winning story for Plaid if they win their argument, but, in reality, it offers nothing that couldn’t be provided through existing channels.

If you take a proposal to a potential backer, you are normally expected to say how much money you need and, in the case of finite resources, what services you expect to see have money taken away from them in order to pay for this new idea. Plaid won’t say what services they would cut to fund their proposals, because they know they will never be in a position where they have to answer that question. This Assembly term, Plaid have obviously adopted the strategy of calling for potentially expensive projects—you know I’m right—secure in the knowledge that they will never have to deliver or be scrutinised for them. This immature, wish-list politics doesn’t solve any problems and misleads the public that all our ills can be solved without diverting existing funds or increasing tax. Thank you.

Thank you. I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mark Drakeford.

Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. The need to align procurement policy and practice with the wider economic, social and environmental ambitions of Wales has long been recognised, and it was a particular focus of my predecessor as finance Minister, Jane Hutt, and helps to explain the year-on-year growth in the percentage of procurement spend gathered by Welsh businesses. In construction, the particular focus of this debate, that figure is now over 70 per cent, and all of this, Dirprwy Lywydd, while we are still in the European Union.

Now, planning for the future is essential to ensure that Wales has the highly skilled, well-developed and supported construction industry that can meet our infrastructure needs and boost the Welsh economy. The intrinsic connection between public procurement and the development of a skilled construction workforce is clear, and it’s good that this debate highlights that relationship.

Rwy’n ddiolchgar, wrth gwrs, i Sian Gwenllian am beth ddywedodd hi yn tynnu sylw at y rôl mae menywod yn gallu ei chwarae yn y sector, a’r cyfleon a’r sialens sydd yna i drio tynnu menywod ifanc i mewn i’r gweithlu yn y dyfodol.

The way that the Welsh public sector procures infrastructure and construction projects can make a significant impact in the provision of good employment and training opportunities across the sector, and across the genders as well.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Now, the visibility of future plans for investing in our infrastructure provides the construction sector with the confidence it needs to invest in skills. It was why, even in these very uncertain times, I was keen to provide a four-year capital programme during our most recent budget-making round.

The Government has laid an amendment to the motion today not, I believe, because there are major differences of ambition between us, but because we believe at this point that a different set of actions is likely to be more effective in supporting the construction sector, and maximising the purchasing power of the public sector in Wales. In particular, it is not our view that this is the right moment to bring forward a procurement Bill as the motion requires. The decision to leave the European Union may have far-reaching implications for procurement policy, although that is by no means as clear as some here would have you believe.

Jenny Rathbone quite rightly drew attention to this Government’s commitment, as set out in the White Paper we published with Plaid Cymru, to ensure that all those protections in employment, in environmental regulations and in consumer rights that we enjoy as a result of our membership of the European Union go on being provided to our citizens after Brexit. However, legislation requires a level of certainty that would be hard to achieve in the rapidly changing period before us. We believe that we need, for the coming period, to build on the policy landscape we have in place here in Wales—the Wales procurement policy statement, the supplier qualification information database, the code of practice on ethical employment in the supply chain—to make the difference we want to see in creating opportunities for jobs and training, tackling modern slavery, eliminating blacklisting and achieving best value for the Welsh public pound.

And, of course, there is more ground to be gained. We know from the results of our procurement fitness check programme that we have varying degrees of procurement capability across Wales. In the local government sector, for example, some of the stronger performing councils who apply the policy innovatively enable Wales-based suppliers to win over 70 per cent of expenditure. In councils with less-developed procurement capability, as little as 36 per cent of procurement expenditure is retained within Wales. Therefore, if we are to maximise the value of procurement, we are focused on growing capability so that our innovative policies are applied uniformly across Wales.

The case for a national construction college is highlighted in the motion, and Llyr Huws Gruffydd ably set out the reasons why such an idea would wish to remain as part of a potential landscape of the future for skill planning purposes. For now, the Construction Industry Training Board and the consortium led by University of Wales Trinity Saint David is, as Llyr said, establishing the Construction Wales Innovation Centre to offer state-of-the-art facilities and world-class training for individuals and construction companies. That innovation centre headquarters will be based in Swansea, but it will also have sites at colleges right across Wales, including Coleg Sir Gâr, Coleg Ceredigion, Coleg Cambria and Coleg y Cymoedd.

Llywydd, it’s common ground between the Government and the mover of the motion that maximising capital infrastructure spending is a vital lever in supporting the Welsh economy generally, and the construction industry in particular. Against the backdrop of challenging settlements from the UK Government, I will consider all available means to support our capital investment programmes. My first priority is always to make maximum use of every penny of conventional capital available and then to consider how best to use other means.

The Government will maximise the opportunities presented by our new direct borrowing powers from 2019-20, which have substantially increased from £500 million to £1 billion. We go on ensuring that local authorities and housing associations make the most of the low-cost borrowing opportunities available to them, alongside harnessing alternative funding models, such as our Welsh mutual investment model, which launched on 23 March. And it’s part of our wish to have that sort of ambition for our future, which Dai Lloyd set out in opening when he listed those significant investment projects that we have— ar y gweill ar hyn o bryd’,

[Continues.]—and which boost the economy and the construction sector right across Wales.

Llywydd, Mohammad Asghar spoke to the Conservative amendment, which the Government will support, because the Wales procurement policy statement has already had a powerful impact in lowering barriers to procurement, and we are using public investment in infrastructure and construction projects to deliver local benefits. It has opened the door to smaller, more local suppliers. Almost three quarters of major construction contracts awarded on Sell2Wales are now won by indigenous contractors. And our community benefits policy has enabled 83 per cent of £1.3 billion of measured investment to be recycled here within Wales.

Llywydd, I thank the movers of the motion. The debate has proved valuable in the points that it has raised and in helping us to make sure that our focus, now, must be on supporting public bodies to develop their capability to deploy the policies we have here in Wales and make sure that they are implemented to best effect.

I call on Dai Lloyd to reply to the debate.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. It’s a pleasure to summarise this debate and try and bring all these suggestions that we’ve heard from the different speakers together. Could I thank Mohammad Asghar for his contribution, which was polished as usual? We will be supporting the Conservatives’ amendment, even though it more or less supports the same objectives as us, but in the spirit of being consensual, when we do see another party agreeing with what we say, we are willing to support that.

Could I thank Sian Gwenllian for her excellent contribution about the role of women in the workplace? I’d like to pursue the importance of having measures in place, and ensuring that we pursue procurement in a way that improves opportunities for people and expands those opportunities, and ensuring that we have a social conscience behind the procurement decisions that we make in the public procurement system. Procurement, as the Cabinet Secretary has said, does offer great opportunities for us, but also we believe that we need to reform its implementation along the lines that Sian Gwenllian suggested.

Could I also thank Jenny Rathbone for her contribution on zero-carbon homes and those issues? I thank Jenny for her very wise contribution there. And I thank Llyr, who emphasised the importance of skills in this, and also the college to boost those skills in the construction sector. Could I also congratulate Michelle Brown for her contribution? I was a little confused during the contribution, but it’s always fun to hear the contributions of some Members in the Chamber.

And also the Cabinet Secretary Mark Drakeford, could I congratulate you on your contribution? Evidently, there is a lot of agreement between us on what needs to be done. There are some things that are holding us back, naturally. We all know that the Welsh economy at present, in terms of our wealth—. Seventy-five per cent of that wealth comes from the public sector and only 25 per cent comes from the private sector. So, public procurement in the public sector can be a very important tool to try and reverse those figures, so that the public sector can invest in the private sector and raise that up. So, one sector helping the other in order to boost the activities that happen here. There is a construction sector out there that wants to see more construction, as I mentioned earlier. There is about £40 billion-worth of projects in the pipeline and that’s why we need to realise those dreams and release that funding with the infrastructure commission that we’re always talking about—our NICW—and we need to release that funding and go for it. But, a key part of that is public procurement, and there is a way to improve our procurement system. I tend to believe that we all basically agree that we need some reform and we could do much better, along the lines that Sian Gwenllian suggested.

We can’t agree with the amendments of the Government today, I’m afraid, despite the spirit in which the Cabinet Secretary made his contribution today. The purpose of our motion today was to highlight how acting on issues can have a positive effect on the construction sector in Wales. There are people in that sector who want to see the floodgates open, because as the Cabinet Secretary said, in the procurement sector, for example, the public sector is responsible for over 75 per cent of all construction procurement in Wales. So, direct action by the Welsh Government and the strategies and practices in procurement can have a huge impact on the health of our economy, and trying to do something about that split—the 75 per cent in the public sector and the 25 per cent in the private sector. We really need to raise that 25 per cent and create wealth for our country.

Of course, the arguments of the opposition parties are often an opportunity to make political points, but also an opportunity to discuss issues that can have a direct impact in a positive way on the lives of our citizens. That’s what I hope that we’ve tried to do this afternoon, as people look at our construction sector and the procurement sector and the need to ensure, when a company is awarded a contract to build whatever it is, that the contracts are timely—as I mentioned at the outset—and don’t waste money, but that people are paid on time and don’t have to wait months before being paid, thereby putting at risk their livelihoods, which can happen with some construction contracts. So, at the end of the day, I hope that you will support our motion. Thank you very much.

The proposal is to support the motion unamended. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.