The next item is a Member debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv) on the foundational economy, and I call on Lee Waters to move the motion. Lee.

Motion NDM6782 Lee Waters, David Melding, Jenny Rathbone, Hefin David, Adam Price, Vikki Howells

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Welcomes the Welsh Government commitment to support foundational sectors in its economic action plan and calls on the Welsh Government to go further in embracing the principles of the foundational economy.

2. Believes that the Preston City Council’s community wealth-building approach has been demonstrably successful in tackling deprivation and calls on the Welsh Government to meet with representatives of Preston City Council to discuss lessons that can be learnt.

3. Believes that the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 offers significant opportunity to reframe best value in the context of procurement in Wales, to support a foundational economy approach.   

4. Calls on the Welsh Government to develop an ambitious adult social care models that recognises the importance of a localised approach and trials multiple alternative models of care delivery, as part of a foundational economy approach in Wales.

Motion moved.

Diolch. Preparations are accelerating for a 'no deal' Brexit. Stockpiling medicine and food is getting the attention of the media, but the reality for the Welsh economy could be far more austere. Our economic policy has focused on providing support to so-called anchor companies—large multinationals with bases in Wales that we have favoured with grants and other financial inducements. But once barriers start popping up that create costly delays, the judgments made in the global head offices of where to put future investment will quickly disfavour Wales. As this week’s comments by Ford in Europe signalled, we may find soon that anchors are pulled up.

It seems to me that part of what we must do is confront the fact that we cannot continue to give large grants to huge corporations to entice them to stay in our communities when the going gets tough. The going is already tough, and we are pouring much needed resources into a sieve, watching our investments drained away to tax havens, for little lasting return on the ground. Wales has had great success in pursuing foreign capital. We've had record low levels of unemployment. We have record levels of foreign direct investment. And yet, many people are still profoundly disconnected, working in fragile jobs for low wages.

Llywydd, the economy isn’t just about GVA. It’s also about people’s lived experiences, and a foundational economy approach allows us to rethink. Almost half of the people in Wales are employed in what we might think of as the foundational economy: the mundane, everyday part of our economy; the parts delivering basic goods and services in their communities—care, food, energy and housing, to name just some—the parts that can’t easily shift when the international economy dips. And this grounded sector has been neglected by policy right across the UK as we’ve focused on the next shiny project, and the next ribbon-cutting opportunity. And we have to change that.

The purpose of today's motion, tabled by myself, Vikki Howells, Jenny Rathbone, Hefin David, Adam Price and David Melding is to look again at the central importance of this overlooked sector of the our economy. From the cross-party buy-in to this motion, it is clear that there is an appetite for a new approach.

With my colleague Jenny Rathbone, I recently visited Preston to learn more about their approach to what they call 'community wealth building'. Since the financial crisis, and the failure of a grand new shopping centre that they were relying on to boost Preston, and in the face of continuing austerity, the council have been forced to rethink their approach to economic development. Now, their definition of an anchor institution is profoundly different to ours. They use the term to describe institutions that are locally rooted and securely based—the local university, the FE college, the sixth-form college, the county council, the local housing association and the police force. Together these anchors spent £750 million a year on purchasing goods and services, but just 5 per cent of it in Preston, and less than 40 per cent in the wider Lancashire area. So some £458 million of public money was leaking out of the Lancashire economy every year.

As a result of their new approach to harnessing their foundational economy these local anchor institutions now use procurement to secure the best social value locally. By auditing the 300 most valuable contracts they each had, they've been able to redirect spend to local firms without impacting cost or quality. That's a crucial point. Now, 17 per cent of the spending by the local anchor institutions is retained within Preston—17 per cent, up from 5 per cent—and 79 per cent in the wider Lancashire economy, up from 39 per cent.

This has had demonstrable impact in Preston. An area that was once amongst the most deprived in England is now rising out of the depths. Where wages in most of the UK have been static for over a decade, in Preston they're increasing. And a big contribution to that has come from the local anchor institutions. Five of the six are now accredited living wage employers.

We need to be doing the same—identifying who are the major players in our local economies and asking them to do their bit. We must be clear to all these institutions across the public and private sectors that building up their local economies will provide them with a secure foundation and a lasting future. For housing associations, their rents paid; for the health service, lower demand on services caused by poverty; for the police force, reducing the causes of crime. In Wales, the public sector spends £5.5 billion every year buying in goods and services, and we could use that as a direct means of boosting our foundational economy.

This will require a new approach, an approach that is in keeping with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, which as point 3 of our motion points out, offers a significant opportunity to allow us to go even further than Preston. But to do it we need to make changes. Our public sector will need to be empowered to procure in a way that delivers far more than the lowest price. Local businesses will need increased support to deliver and bid on public sector contracts, and we’ll need to invest in higher skilled staff in local government with specialist purchasing skills to drive this change in our approach.

But the barriers to do these things are not as high as we've convinced ourselves that they are. The experience in Preston shows that European procurement rules are not the problem we tell ourselves they are. In fact, the leader of the council, Matthew Brown, and his senior officials told Jenny Rathbone and I that the reforms have been much easier to carry out than they'd anticipated. So point 2 of our motion calls on the Welsh Government to meet with Preston City Council to discuss the lessons that can be learnt.

They stressed to us that their approach is not one that should be applied uniformly. Different places have different solutions and different problems to be dealt with. For example, in Islington, where affordable work space is in short supply, the council have invested in bringing buildings back into community ownership to let micro and small-sized enterprises rent at below market rates. That's been their focus. In Greater Manchester, the pension fund has provided £50 million of lending and equity capital to small and medium-sized enterprises. That's what they identified was their main problem. In Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise have been a leader in the development of community energy assets, providing investment in an area overlooked by traditional financing. 

Now, in Wales, we too have the kernel of a comprehensive approach. There are signs of a new attitude to purchasing. A review of the National Procurement Service presents an opportunity to move away from a focus on high-volume contracts for the lowest price. Our economic action plan commits us to supporting foundational sectors and we need to be clear about what we mean by this, and the extent to which it means jettisoning the old ways of working. But I was encouraged by what the Cabinet Secretary had to say about his plans for a cross-cutting foundational approach during his most recent appearance at the economy committee, and I hope we can hear more today.

But there is more to do. Point 4 of our motion calls on the Welsh Government to trial a range of different models of adult social care that recognises the importance of a localised foundational approach. Too often, people working in the sector are on low-paid, zero-hours contracts with no prospects of progression. Large firms are moving into the sector, and extracting significant profits for little return to care users and the public who fund them. Whilst we have given a £1 million to explore foundational approaches in social care, we give much larger sums of money to some of the worlds biggest companies to entice them to move or stay here, and we need to tip the scales, in social care and across our economy. 

What I learnt in Preston, Deputy Llywydd, above all else, was that their success is due to focused leadership and vision. It has been embedded in the working culture of their anchors and through the sustained effort of committed figureheads. A foundational approach to the economy can be our vision, and the Welsh Government can take the lead. The dawning reality of what Brexit will mean for our economy means we need to do this urgently. Diolch. 

It's a pleasure to take part in this important debate and I'm pleased that in this fifth Assembly we have focused on this, the whole issue of the foundational economy, because I think really since the financial crisis there's been a great need to revisit how we look at the economy, because the economy has got to be much more than what can be captured by descriptions such as 'globalisation', 'rational markets' and 'maximum utility'. Economies are local, national, as well as global, and the local economy has been overlooked for far too long and, in my view, this has created a lot of space for populists and protectionists to grow in influence, and actually criticise aspects of the global economy that are quite productive for us, as well as focusing on issues that do need greater scrutiny.

But this phrase 'take back control' has to be taken very, very seriously. Of course, the tragedy in Brexit is that it's not very clear how we're taking back control. It'll certainly be a work in progress and it needs to be a work that informs the whole political economy, if I can use such an eighteenth-century concept, but I think it's time it came back, because politics and economics are so inextricably linked. We need, in looking at something like 'take back control', to consider concepts like fairness, worth, citizenship, because these are all key components of a cohesive society and a healthy political economy. They are inevitably promoted by the concept of the foundational economy, and Lee Waters has already given an excellent description of why this is so. And I believe also, as Lee mentioned, it's at the heart of something like the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) 2015 Act. I do think that's a very good prism for us to use in terms of getting greater attention and focus on local economies and their growth. 

Can I also take this opportunity to commend the Federation of Small Businesses and their partners in the report they've produced, and also the report by the Bevan Foundation, which I think is another key document? I notice that the Bevan Foundation urged the Government to come up with a strategy for the foundational economy, and to do that quickly. And they say it should be as urgent a task as the industrial strategy was for the UK Government, and it took them, they say, six months to put together. So, I do hope you will have that similar urgency.

Can I move to some practical issues, in terms of what we should be focusing on? A cleverer procurement, as is now occurring in Preston, which generates more local spend, is very, very important. Now, we could get mini protectionism if we're not careful. There's nothing wrong with people from outside the immediate locality being active in that economy. But we need to spend more within local areas—in delivering social care, for instance. It's an excellent way for those who are often economically inactive to be skilled up, given the confidence, and then being able to enter the local labour market. An awful lot of public service delivery can be concentrated in terms of the people they employ—in the more prosperous areas of a regional economy, for instance. And people travel in to places like Merthyr and the upper Valleys from Cardiff and the M4 corridor, when we could be generating more of that employment locally.

SMEs are clearly key in the foundational economy. And just look what's happened in the housing sector—we've lost a lot of our ability to build at scale, because SMEs have largely gone out of house building and into other related areas, like repair and maintenance and adaptation.

Skills are at the heart of this. If we could tackle basic skills deficits with the alacrity that we are now tackling higher skills and technological skills—and we need to do that, of course—we would see a reduction in economic inactivity. That is the main indicator of poverty levels—the number of people who are of working age but are not working. And this is a very, very important area.

Can I just finish with this, and it's a task beyond just the Welsh Government—this is something we're going to need to do at the UK level? Business rates are no longer fit for purpose. They drive local entrepreneurs out of our high streets, and in many areas around the business parks and the like. We are now in the absurd situation where local economies are paying more in business rates than some multinationals are paying in tax in all the business they generate in the United Kingdom. That cannot be right.

I'd like to say a big 'thank you' to Lee Waters and Jenny Rathbone for making the journey to Preston; I couldn't make it myself, for family reasons. But the great thing is, they produced a report, as you'd expect, as a result of their journey, and I've read it with interest. What it reveals is that there are things there that can be transferred from the Preston model to our communities, without too much trouble. I take the point about having local specific needs as well, but there are certain principles that we could transfer.

Professor Kevin Morgan has singled out, often, Caerphilly County Borough Council for praise, with regard to their procurement, and has named Liz Lucas and her team there as specialists and exemplars in procurement. So, I took the opportunity this afternoon to speak to the team in Caerphilly council, and one of the things that rang true was the line from Lee and Jenny's report on Preston:

'The council deputy chief executive in Preston told us that, having been told EU procurement rules were a barrier, they had found it easier than expected.'

And this is borne out by the experience in Caerphilly council, because what they did with the Welsh housing quality standard programme was that they developed their own Caerphilly version of a dynamic purchasing system, which allowed simplified access—something they called a passport to trade—for local contractors to access the work for the WHQS. This was something that fits very much in line with what I've read in the Preston report from Lee Waters and Jenny Rathbone.

One of the other things that Caerphilly said they do well is collaborate with other local authorities. And they felt that the National Procurement Service didn't allow that, or it wasn't built into the principles of the National Procurement Service, yet they maintained that collaboration locally. However, what I would say is that looking at the anchor institutions that are identified in the report that Lee and Jenny produced, as a result of the visit to Preston, there is not the level of systemisation and structuralisation that is present there in Caerphilly, and I think there are lessons to be learnt there: how do we make the most of the understanding of our immediate environment? I think that's something that we still fall some way short on.

I've talked before about Mark Granovetter's work, 'The Strength of Weak Ties' and the fact that weak ties to social capital are those that enable growth. So, not relying as a business on your family and friends, but relying on collaborative arrangements with other businesses in your immediate social network—that strength of weak ties in social capital.

One of the things Caerphilly found was that along with those weak ties come some very strong characters. Small firms that try and collaborate can't sustain the collaboration when they're applying and bidding for contracts. Sometimes, it's because of disputes over who should be paid what for what, and it becomes a difficulty in sustaining collaboration in small firms across contracts. They may succeed in delivering one contract, but then will not re-collaborate again to deliver another contract. That requires a degree of education in our small firms, in our SME community, and I think that's important.

Finally, the other issue that Caerphilly council raised with me is the link to social care. I'm pleased to see that one of our candidates for the Welsh Labour leadership is here and has identified the need for a national care service. I think a national care service is vital in helping us to deliver social care. Too often, we've outsourced our social care without thinking who we are outsourcing it to. The Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods—WISERD—has produced a report, which said that we should be building social enterprises into our care delivery systems, into how we deliver social care. We haven't succeeded in that in Wales and I think we need to relook at how we deliver social care. I think that framework national care service will be key in allowing that. 

So, I think this is an important debate at this point in time. We've had debates on the foundational economy before. One thing I'd say: the Cabinet Secretary has listened because we've seen it delivered in the Welsh Government's economic action plan, but now we need to see it actioned. I think that some of the discussion in this debate today will give the Cabinet Secretary further motivation to take these ideas forward, and I look forward to hearing his response to the debate today as well.

I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to take part in this important debate today, speaking on behalf of my colleague Adam Price. It requires real ability, political will and considerable courage to move away form the conventional ways of thinking in terms of economic policy, to move away from the obsession with the national economic indicators like GVA and GDP, an obsession that media and all political parties have been guilty of in the past, and to look at how we can better improve the everyday lives of our fellow citizens in real terms. GVA and GDP have, of course, a place in measuring overall national wealth, but what these indicators do not do is enable us to measure and understand real people's access to real resources, including financial wealth, let alone the health and happiness and well-being of our fellow citizens, and that, of course, is what really matters to people in their everyday lives. 

The Welsh Government has in the past concentrated our economic policy on delivering the so-called 'big-ticket wins'—the anchor companies to which Lee Waters has already referred. There has been some success in attracting and retaining large international, mostly foreign-owned firms, to Wales. While one can see the attraction of this approach, it is problematic; it has always been problematic, but as Lee Waters pointed out earlier, it has become more problematic now. 

There is, of course, immediate economic benefit, obviously, to those who are directly employed in these companies, and sometimes to local companies and supply chains, but in the end the profits are sent and spent elsewhere, and we know that the commitment of these multinationals to Wales, with some notable exceptions, is, at best, shallow. Too often, they will relocate at the whim of the markets, and this risk, of course, is heightened, as has already been pointed out, by Brexit.

There seems to be a consensus developing that we can't carry on like this. A paradigm shift is required in policy thinking. We must focus economic development more towards that everyday economy, which is relevant to all citizens in their everyday lives. Therefore, the new focus on the foundational economy in the Welsh Government's action plan is very much, I think, to be welcomed, as others have said. The foundational economy is made up of those basic goods and services distributed locally that are essential to life, including food, utilities, construction, retail, education, health and social care, and I very much take the point that Hefin has made about the importance of social care and how, in effect, we have outsourced much of that to big international companies that really don't care very much either about the people they're providing services to, their workers, or the communities they're providing services in. And, of course, housing is crucial. These sectors are where over half the people of Wales, of course, work, but we've tended to overlook them, in policy terms.

Working on prioritising the foundational economy will allow us to drive up wages in these key sectors as we improve productivity, and prevent leakages from local procurement and private consumption. Points have already been very well made about Preston council, and I'd be very interested to hear what contacts the Welsh Government has already had, and what further contacts they intend to have, with that very striking example. But there are, of course, other good examples, and others have mentioned those.

Of course, concentrating on the foundational economy would further allow us to retain a greater share of profits through higher local and social ownership. And this can be done in many ways. Plaid Cymru has been considering ideas, including establishing community economic development companies across Wales that can identify market opportunities for local co-operative enterprises and establishing an improved network and structure for the food and drink sector in Wales, bringing together all the various stakeholders across agriculture, food processing, health, nutrition and the environment. This could create a single joined-up policy that places healthy, nutritious and locally-produced food as a key overarching goal for the Welsh Government.

Like anything else in politics, refocusing economic policy is a matter of priorities. If the foundational sectors and the overlooked economy really do move up the list of priorities for the Welsh Government, and the signs are good—it is clear that there is movement on this—then resources can be better deployed to support, and policies better developed to engage with, the for-profit microfirms that account for over 30 per cent of employment in Wales.

We have to develop effective small business support, and, while there has been some success in the past, I'm sure we would all acknowledge that the previous models of small business support have, on the whole, failed to reach those businesses with the most potential to grow and which could use them most.

If we can get this right, we can positively influence the lives of large numbers of citizens, creating decent jobs whilst supporting growth and shaping the culture of the next generation of medium-sized grounded firms—that missing middle that we hear of. Many of the foundations and some of the institutions that can support the foundational economy already exist. The development bank, for example, has huge potential to build up the missing middle. However, it must move towards making long-term financial support for these Welsh-grounded firms through patient loans, where there's no expectation to be able to turn around a quick profit or a very quick return on investment, and to help local companies grow and, when necessary, potentially be bought out by staff themselves.

I can see, Dirprwy Lywydd, that my time is running out. There is much more that could be said. 

It has run out.

It has run out. Thank you. Just to end by saying that this paradigm shift will require a lot of work, from Government, civil servants, the third sector, academics and other interested parties, to put together the body of evidence and to work to deliver. Plaid Cymru is very ready to play our part in this. 

I hesitate to disagree with David Melding, but I'd just like to remind us all that the people who are living in most poverty are not those that are economically inactive. They are people in work; it's just that their wages are insufficient for them to live on. I was handed this at lunch time:

'Feeling peckish? Food for thought. In the past 12 months, 14 per cent of people in Wales had run out of food before they could afford to buy more.'

Those are mainly people in work. They simply aren't earning enough and that is a clear indication that the economy is not working for Britain and it needs fundamental reform.  

So, I think, given the earthquake that could be posed by Brexit, we need to think really clearly on how we can develop a local economy that is resilient to these whirlwinds and fairer, using the resources rooted in our communities, paid for by our communities, rather than depending on those that can be spirited away to the most convenient tax haven. For example, as in Preston, with the failure of a large shopping centre, Sports Direct's takeover of House of Fraser is unlikely to be a source of salvation for Cardiff city centre. It's a stay of execution, but not a long-term solution to the changing patterns. It's as little rooted in its economy as is its landlord, which has interests across the UK and the United States. So, I think we really do need to focus on how we can strengthen our foundational economy, which is what we all have a stake in. 

I commend, for example, Cardiff council on using community asset transfers when they are unable to find the resources to develop some of their capital assets, for example, by transferring Plasnewydd community centre to the YMCA, which is now a flourishing community centre, where it was failing in the past. The transfer of Roath library, which needed desperate repairs to its roof—it has now been transferred to Rubicon Dance, a local voluntary organisation, which many of you will know, who are better able to raise the non-public assets that Cardiff council is simply unable to secure at these difficult times. 

Yesterday, in the Senedd, I welcomed the innovative housing award, which means that we are going to have a completely fantastic development of a tree tower of 50 flats for people, with affordable rents and in direct contrast to the rabbit hutches the six big house builders are so enthusiastic about. So, that will be building local skills, building expertise in the sort of houses we need for the twenty-first century, as well as putting more money into the local economy. Because if people aren't having to spend a huge part of their income on heating their home, it strengthens the amount of money circulating in the local economy to be spent on food and entertainment and anything else. 

So, I think there are huge benefits to be learnt from our visit to Preston, which I think all our local authorities and all our anchor companies need to be thinking hard about. It doesn't just—. Also, the third sector plays a really important role in this. I visited my local British Heart Foundation furniture shop last week—fantastic opportunities for volunteering, which means that people who aren't well enough to take on local jobs or don't feel ready to go back into the workplace are nevertheless making a contribution, as well as ensuring that the students who all live nearby are donating the furniture they no longer need back into circulation for the next generation of students. That's a complete win-win. 

One of the things that Lee Waters and I visited was the University of Central Lancashire, where the propeller initiative is making a big difference. They set it up as a business development hub, a worker-owned co-operative in digital media, to stem the brain drain to Manchester. So, this resonates with what David Melding was saying, that not all businesses need to be located in Cardiff. They could easily be located elsewhere in the Valleys, rather than clogging up the roads. So, whilst Cardiff University is hugely much bigger than the University of Central Lancashire, it is an important anchor company that one in 130 jobs in Wales depends on. The patents that they develop and the £29 million generated through student and staff start-ups indicate the type of new jobs that are likely to stay in Wales and stay in Cardiff in particular. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer.

Thank you. Can I now call on the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, Ken Skates?

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm very, very grateful indeed for the opportunity to respond to this debate. I'd like to thank Members for their thoughtful contributions. Today, we have two debates back to back that I think reflect the twin goals contained in our economic action plan: one of supercharging the industries of tomorrow as we enter the, or as we proceed through the, fourth industrial revolution, and the second goal of supporting and driving inclusive growth. And I do think it's been an excellent debate. We cannot say this about every issue, but I believe there is genuine cross-party agreement on the importance of the foundational economy.

I was struck by a number of contributions, including what David Melding said. His thoughtful contribution referred to the fact that there are many social, psychological and political impacts that the health of the foundational economy has. I think the latest publication concerning—or the latest excellent publication concerning—the foundational economy by Manchester University Press captures very well the fact that, when you have the provision of services and goods that vary in quality according to social status, you get societal division as a consequence. When that happens, you then have the sort of political opportunism that David Melding rightly identified, and also, of course, the protectionism that we've seen espoused around the globe on a national and on a regional and on a micro level as well.

I was also delighted and relieved to hear Helen Mary Jones speak in support of what I've stood here for more than two years arguing—that GVA is less important to people's lives than their happiness and their well-being, which can't always be captured by the existing measurements that too many politicians like to refer to when bashing a Government in terms of economic performance. The economic action plan is designed to raise the spirit level of, yes, wealth, but also—in my view, more importantly—of well-being, and to ensure that we drive down inequalities in both.

I think it's right that we, as elected representatives, regardless of party colour, should focus on the foundational economy, because, regardless of which constituency we represent, the foundational economy is relevant to us all and all of the people that we serve. It's at the heart of our communities and of our daily experiences, reliant as we are on the goods and services of the foundational economy.

So, it's not before time, in my view, that what has been referred to in the past as the 'mundane economy' is getting the focus and attention that it so richly deserves. Again, that's why the economic action plan gives a sharper edge to our approach to four particular parts of the foundational economy—those areas that concern food and drink, tourism, care and retail—where we will work across Government with these sectors to address three critical challenges, those, firstly, being to drive up the quality, sustainability and prospects of people employed within the foundational economy. Productivity, leadership and innovation are relevant to all of our economy, but they are no less relevant to the foundational economy.

Secondly, we need to change perceptions of work in the foundational economy—indeed, perceptions of the foundational economy itself. We need to drive up the value that every individual places on the role of the foundational economy in our society, because it's people and their skills and their commitment that make the foundational economy serve society successfully, and so we need to invest more heavily in the people employed within the foundational economy.

Thirdly, I believe that we must maximise the impact of the foundational economy on our places. Businesses and services and goods that form the foundational economy have a critical role in driving up the pride that people have in our places and cohesion in our places as well. So, our focus now is on developing an enabling plan that will have those objectives in mind and which will guide activity right across Government, because building a strong and effective foundational economy is not just about the economy and transport levers at our disposal—it's about joining up and making a collective and unified effort right across Government.

Turning to the specific elements of the motion, I do recognise the call to go further in embracing the foundational economy principles. I believe that there is a strong rationale for selecting the four foundational activities that I have. We have to start somewhere, Dirprwy Lywydd, and, with limited resource, having that sense of purpose and focus is incredibly important. But this does not mean that we cannot embrace wider principles of the foundational economy. Indeed, I've asked my ministerial advisory board to look at best practice and the lessons that we can learn from excellent examples like the Preston model of community wealth building that Members have referred to. I know that we already have applied lessons from Preston in our procurement policies, and learning from others is something that I'm very keen to do. Hefin David rightly said that it is entirely possible to adopt practices from elsewhere, that should be done whenever and wherever desirable, and Jenny Rathbone identified examples of innovation and best practice closer to home that should be rolled out widely across Wales. 

And I very much agree with the emphasis placed in the motion on the well-being of future generations legislation. Embedding the ways of working and the national goals of the well-being Act provides great scope, in my view, for delivering wider value through procurement. I know that procurement resources are made available for use by the Welsh public sector to embed the well-being Act in delivery of procurement. 

Dirprwy Llywydd, I recognise the motion rightly highlights the role of care, and the opportunity that we have to, I think, blaze a trail in looking at new models of delivery across our country. We have seen some really positive developments on this front; some Members have already identified some of those developments. We've engaged with the Wales Co-operative Centre to support the development and expansion of alternative delivery models that are far more sustainable, and serve the communities in which they are rooted. We've also undertaken a business support pilot in the Valleys taskforce area to deliver advice aimed at improving knowledge, confidence and practical skills. And our new approach, I think, provides us with the opportunity to potentially scale up such activities and engage more broadly with social enterprise and others in developing alternative business models.

Can I close by thanking Members once again for their contribution today? I very much hope that we can maintain the positive spirit of today's debate, and the cross-party goodwill, as we develop our approach to the foundational economy, and ensure that it goes from strength to strength. 

Thank you. Can I now call Vikki Howells to reply to the debate? 

Diolch, Dirprwy Llywydd, and my thanks to Members for their contributions to this debate today. I think we've had some very thoughtful contributions, covering a range of policy areas, and that's really important because, of course, the foundational economy does include so many varied aspects, from sofas to social care, the food we eat, the energy we consume, hairdressing to housing, transport to telecomms. Foundational activities cover the gamut of human existence and, moreover, they cover the goods and services to which all members of society require access. They underpin the welfare state and enrich our material experience. 

For my closing remarks, I'd like to spend a little time reflecting on each part of the motion before us in turn. Firstly, as we note in our first point, it is really positive that the Welsh Government has committed to supporting the foundational sectors in its action plan, and that is no mean feat. As Helen Mary Jones stated, it takes courage to move away from traditional markers of economic success, such as GVA and GDP. And as the Cabinet Secretary said, it is all about supporting and driving inclusive growth, and it's great to see that he has the confidence to break free from the shackles of using GVA and GDP solely as signifiers of a nation's growth and success, and is genuinely, through the economic action plan, exploring ways to harness and to measure citizens' well-being.

But, as other contributors have made clear, it is imperative that the Welsh Government must go further in embracing the principles and the ethos of the foundational economy. Indeed, foundational economy activities provide 54 per cent of Welsh jobs, and 45 per cent of our GVA. Similarly, it is estimated that half of regular household expenditure is spent on aspects of the foundational economy.

To turn to our second point, we must learn from the work that Preston council has done in tackling entrenched local poverty, investing in the foundational economy by, as Lee Waters explained, redefining the concept of an anchor institution. Businesses and community organisations have been incubated there, and my colleague Jenny Rathbone gave some great examples of how this has also been done in Cardiff and can be emulated elsewhere. And this is the key point, in Preston, the £1.2 billion spent by public sector bodies has been aggressively deployed to benefit the locality. Local spend by the council, at least, has more than doubled, and the result has been that that area has enjoyed the second biggest shift in its multiple deprivation index ranking over five years.

Regarding the third strand of our motion on procurement, this is key to ensuring we support foundational economies across Wales, and there are examples of excellent practice in this area that can be harnessed and rolled out, as Hefin David informed us when he spoke about the expertise shown by Caerphilly County Borough Council.

If we could encourage this money to be spent locally, as happened in Preston, it could be used as a lever to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of people and communities in Wales. As the future generations commissioner points out to us, this is not just a nicety, it is something that all public bodies are obligated to do under the well-being of future generations Act.

Now, the fourth point in our motion is a crucial one. I would strongly argue that not only is care a key strand of the foundational economy but that also, by recognising it in this way, we can deliver better outcomes for all. However, as Sheffield university's Diane Burns has suggested, we need to introduce fundamental changes to the way that we do things. We need to change the way that we commission care. We need to change from care that focuses on it as a market-friendly commodity package service. We need to change from basing provision on businesses with no local commitments to those that have these. Indeed, we need to be ambitious and to look to see how we can rebalance services to get the best deal for local people, restoring people's feeling of worth and enhancing their skills, as David Melding so cogently argued. 

To close, I hope that Members will support this motion today. Assuming a foundational approach to the economy is not about spending more of our finite resources. It's about conceptualising how we spend it in a different, better way and, as my colleague Lee Waters stated in his opening comments, finding tailor-made approaches that address the key weaknesses within the Welsh economy. It is also about ensuring and recognising the key role that these activities play in our economy, and I would suggest ensuring we view the activities that are part of the foundational economy, that underpin local communities and the welfare state—and those employed in them—as fundamental to our future prosperity.

Thank you. The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? Therefore, the motion is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36. 

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.