Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 10 January 2018.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:56, 10 January 2018

I think the Member, if he rereads it, will find that—it's possibly on page 18. It might not be, but I think it's on page 18 where we talk about disaggregating major contracts, and that's particularly important for smaller businesses. What we've found, in particular with regard to the construction sector, is that there's been a significant increase in Welsh-based companies that are able to win publicly procured contracts in Wales. But what we wish to do is enable more companies, especially smaller and medium-sized enterprises, to win parts of major contracts that, at the moment, only the big companies—often English-based, or even further afield—are able to bid for, because of capacity or expertise issues. The economic action plan deals with that question directly. It may not be on page 18, I can't remember exactly whether it is, but it does specifically reference the need to disaggregate components of major infrastructure projects so that we can give more work to Welsh-based firms and drive up the value of the Welsh public pound.