Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 26 March 2019.
Well, it's quite clear, First Minister, that your National Procurement Service has of course been a complete and utter failure, failing to achieve its targets and costing the taxpayer when it should be saving money—all of this with a complete lack of competency and direction from your Government. Now, don't take my work for it: a Wales Audit Office report in November 2017 found that, instead of processing more than £1 billion a year for bulk-buy items, only £150 million was spent through public bodies in 2015-16, and, from 2015 to 2017, NPS has made annual losses of £2 million. The NPS has not been able to repay a £5.9 million Welsh Government loan, and Government reserves are now continuing to meet the shortfall until the end of this financial year. Finally, the audit office also found that only a third of public bodies that took part in a survey were satisfied with that service. First Minister, why did that the National Procurement Service fail so badly?