Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 18 April 2018.

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Photo of Adam Price Adam Price Plaid Cymru 2:03, 18 April 2018

(Translated)

One of the main weaknesses as I see it in terms of procurement at the moment in Wales is a lack of staff with appropriate qualifications and the ability of public bodies to retain those experienced staff. In 2012, Cardiff University said in a report by Professor Kevin Morgan that there was a serious skills shortage at the heart of the public sector in Wales in relation to public procurement. He estimated that there was a need for an official with a chartered institute qualification for every £15 million of public spend. Now, the Welsh Government have gone a step further than that, of course, and followed the recommendations made by McClelland, and in their policy on public procurement they talked of a figure of £10 million of expenditure across the public sector as the benchmark. On that basis, of course, we are some 274 professional procurement managers short in Wales, so what actions are the Government taking to recruit and train more staff and experts in procurement?