Part of 2. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 27 September 2017.
Thank you to Paul Davies for the question. He makes an important point. I heard his exchange with Ken Skates yesterday. There is a series of actions that we take as a Welsh Government to try to make sure that the spend that is invested in activity in Wales through the Welsh Government and our partners has the maximum impact on the wider economy. The National Procurement Service, for example, in the years that it has been in existence, has more than doubled the amount of common and repetitive spending that goes to Welsh firms compared to the year before it came into existence. In relation to the specific point that he makes, I intend, through the local government reforms that we are bringing about, to provide local authorities with a general power of competence, which will allow them to do more things than local authorities in Wales are able to do at present, including some commercial activity, which local authorities across our border have been able to become involved in. That has to be done sensitively and carefully, otherwise it leads you into a different sort of difficulty, but, by making sure that our local authorities have the scope to do more than they are able to do at the moment, it will be another way in which we can make sure that the resources they have and we have are invested in ways that continue to show a return for local people in Wales.