2. What discussions has the Minister had with cabinet colleagues about using public procurement to support local businesses? OAQ54222

Thank you. The Minister for Finance and Trefnydd has received a commissioned report on how progressive procurement can develop local spend with local businesses. We are now developing a structured approach for delivery that encompasses public services boards across Wales to look at methods to achieve this.

Thank you for that answer. Obviously, this is something that isn't just a matter for the Trefnydd, because, clearly, a lot of the budget is spent by the education Minister, by the health Minister, et cetera. I'm aware that the National Procurement Service is trying to get more bids from local businesses, both to reduce food miles as well as to improve the freshness of food, which is obviously the area that I'm particularly keen to explore with you.

I know, for example, that one local supplier, Castell Howell, in your constituency, has secured over 40 per cent of the public procurement contracts for food for our hospitals, schools and nursing homes. However, only 18 per cent of what they actually deliver is Wales-sourced. So, there's obviously a great deal more work to do on this and Carmarthenshire and Caerphilly seem to be at the vanguard of ensuring all our schoolchildren are able to eat fresh food rather than it coming from goodness knows where. For example, Woosnam Dairies, a milk producer, started off delivering all the milk to the primary schools in Caerphilly and is now delivering to the NHS as well as two other local authorities. So, it's a good example of how starting small can enable a business to grow, and be good for the public services we're endeavouring to offer, but also for ensuring that more food is grown locally. So, in light of the possibility of a 'no deal' Brexit, which could completely disrupt our food security, what plans does the Government have to spread and scale this good practice, which means getting more fresh food grown in Wales? 

Well, thank you for the question. This is an area that we are actively working hard in. You mention Carmarthenshire and Caerphilly as examples of good practice, and we could add Ceredigion and Cardiff to that. There certainly are a number of local authorities who are doing good work in this area. One of the issues we have is that the performance across Wales is patchy, and the skills and the capability and capacity are patchy too. So, there's a big job of work that we're doing across Government. The finance Minister is leading on the transformation of the National Procurement Service, and I'm working alongside her through the foundational economy experimental fund and the public services boards to try and identify good practice and the spreading and scaling of that good practice. So, the example you cite, particularly of Castell Howell, I know that Carmarthenshire, for example, have put in a bid to the experimental fund for getting more local food into local schools. So, we are judging those applications over the summer, creating a community of best practice where we can share and spread the lessons from this.

I think one of the issues that we need to look at—. The foundational economy project through procurement is not just about getting more business into Wales, it's about changing the way that the sectors within the foundational economy work so those benefits are spread. And I take on board the point the Member makes around local food and provenance and the potential of that, especially post Brexit. I'm certainly alive to the point she makes and I will keep in touch with her as the work develops over the coming months. 

Minister, still on the subject of local food and procurement, in a recent business statement, I raised the issue of Raglan Dairy, a Monmouthshire milk supplier, which has been awarded contracts by the local authority to supply local schools with non-plastic bottled milk. This is great for business, good for the schools and also good for the environment and efforts to reduce plastic pollution. This is a great example of a way that public procurement can be used locally by local authorities to support local businesses and to improve the environment. Can you tell us how you can share this good practice, in addition to what you've said to Jenny Rathbone? And, perhaps, who knows, maybe over the recess period, if you're free—if you're passing through my neck of the woods—we could visit Raglan Dairy and we could see for ourselves the good work they're doing. 

Thank you very much for the question. I think that's an excellent example of good practice. I know from my own constituency, where, in local schools, children themselves are unhappy at having to have plastic bottles to drink their milk with, but the local authority doesn't have the flexibility in their contract to amend it at this stage and we're talking to them about that. So, the work we're doing with the public services boards is to see how this good practice can be spread. Kevin Morgan, from Cardiff University, often talks about best practice being a poor traveller in Wales, and that leader and laggard are cheek by jowl—you'll have one local authority doing cutting-edge work and the neighbouring authority lagging some way behind. So, how we even out these inequalities is something we're working on now with the public services boards. I met with a selection of them just a few weeks ago and there's a great deal of enthusiasm for using the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to address this agenda. So, I note that example of good practice, and I'll be speaking to officials to see how we can make sure it's widely understood, and see if there's potential to copy it.