Welsh Government Procurement

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 16 October 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 2:13, 16 October 2018

Well, what I can say is that we, of course, encourage Welsh public bodies to increase the visibility of contracts via Sell2Wales. Of the 22,000 contracts awarded so far through Sell2Wales, approximately two thirds have been to Welsh suppliers and 75 per cent of these have been to Welsh small and medium-sized enterprises. I know the Member asked about the National Procurement Service, I can say that the proportion of public procurement expenditure won by Welsh-based firms now stands at 50 per cent. From 1 April 2017 to 30 June of this year, the spend through NPS agreements was £7,000,700, and of that, 57 per cent was Welsh-based suppliers. When our community benefits policy is applied, the figures are even higher. For example, 82 per cent of the money has been retained in Wales when that is applied. She asked, of course, how we increase this. We want to do that through the importance of regional and local priorities within local authorities, and we are exploring the adoption of different approaches where regional collaborative procurement is undertaken, which strengthens the economy and communities within those regions.