Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 26 March 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:02, 26 March 2019

Well, Llywydd, I referred to my written statement of September last year, but I hadn't expected the Member to read it out, because absolutely everything that he has said was apparent in that statement then, and answers his first question. We are reforming the National Procurement Service in Wales. I don't accept what he said in his first sentence in his second question, because actually the National Procurement Service will deliver a higher level of saving for public procurement in Wales in the last financial year—in the current financial year, rather—than at any other time in its history. But it does need reform. Times have moved on since it was first created. The rulebook for procurement will be changing as we leave the European Union, and my statement in September set out the way in which the National Procurement Service will continue to have a slimmed-down portfolio of services that it provides to purchasers in Wales. We will do more at the regional and local level. We will rely on the Crown Commercial Service for a small number of procurement initiatives where we think that that provides better value for Wales. We will learn from the experience that we have had, and we will design a service that meets the needs of those who use it. That's all already part of Government policy. I'm not completely certain what the Member thinks he's added to that in his questions so far this afternoon.