2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:36 pm on 12 June 2018.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 2:36, 12 June 2018

On Sunday, I took part in a litter pick on Llandanwg beach, and within one square metre of that shoreline we collected this rubbish. As you can see, this is considerable rubbish, and remember it's one square metre's worth on the tideline. What you will see is that 99 per cent of it is plastic, but large volumes of it are the very small plastic straws from the drinks that most children have. So, the question that I want to ask, leader of the house, is whether the Welsh Government would consider looking at stopping or indeed reducing the supply of those types of straws through its public procurement policy. In 2015, your predecessor made this statement: 

'The recent passing of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act (2015) gives us a new opportunity to advance the principles of public procurement in Wales, building on the good work since 2012. Putting this into practice in the public service means we must continue to look toward our future generations and deliver more sustainable outcomes from our procurements so that our expenditure can help achieve the seven well-being goals'  of that Act. I would ask that, through our public procurement, we seriously look at widening ethical procurement to include looking after the environment, and particularly to look at whether our services that we procure are not adding to more litter on the shoreline, with one square metre producing that amount of debris.