5. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's support for innovative procurement in Wales? OAQ55059

Innovative approaches to procurement are already being used to encourage creativity and deliver broad economic, social and cultural benefits to Welsh communities and citizens. We're also implementing a new procurement and commercial capability programme to build capacity and resilience across the procurement profession in Wales to encourage innovation.

I can see that the Chair of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee is in the Chamber, and so are members of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee. We will be launching and publishing our report on procurement in the foundational economy later this week, so no spoilers, but I would like to ask a question about procurement related to that.

It was clear from evidence sessions in the inquiry that the role and purpose of public services boards in relation to innovative procurement needs greater clarity. Last week—the week before last—in a debate on anchor towns that was held—a short debate that I held here—the Deputy Minister raised the role of public services boards and their role in procurement. Given the lack of clarity, can the Minister explain how she expects public services boards to engage and utilise their local supply chains in order to procure in an innovative way, particularly with relation to the foundational economy?

I'm grateful to Hefin David for raising this issue and for his particular interest in it. We believe that the focus of the foundational economy accords very well with public services boards' own well-being plans, which reflect their local priorities. Many of those PSBs have identified developing the foundational economy as one of their local priorities within those well-being plans, and we've been engaging with them since last summer to explore what support we're able to give them and what help we can provide in delivering on those ambitions.

So, we convened a workshop where we explored the potential of public procurement to deliver foundational economy objectives that will help drive up local well-being. And, since that, now we've also shared a report that was produced for Welsh Government by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies with PSBs, and we've had some good discussions with them on that. I can say now that CLES has been appointed by Welsh Government to provide support to those public services boards that wish to implement progressive procurement programmes. Welsh Government is funding that piece of work. So, we've had expressions of interest from several PSBs, and there'll be an initial pathfinder procurement project to commence next month. So, we are now starting to motor ahead with the work that we're doing with the PSBs, and providing funding to get that moving.

Minister, new ways of working in a climate of constrained budgets are indispensable for sustaining the quality and scope of service delivery. So, can I ask what Welsh Government is doing to assist local councils to identify common needs where they could benefit from innovative solutions and where shared solutions would allow more resources to be deployed?

So, you'll have heard my answer to Hefin David in terms of the importance of public services boards. We're holding an engagement event tomorrow, to which all of the public services boards who have expressed an interest in this have been invited, and that will be part of the Valleys taskforce work. We expect that that will lead to a focused action plan for using procurement to deliver those foundational economies priorities for that particular region. So, we're certainly keen to do what we can to support that joint working and joint sharing of information, but also maximising their buying power.

Minister, the Welsh Local Government Association guidance document on the European Union and public procurement is an interesting read. It states that the EU sets out the laws under which public procurement contracts must be awarded. The laws are designed to open up the EU's market to competition, to promote free movement of goods and services and to prevent binational policies. Does the Welsh Government now welcome the new opportunities that Brexit will provide for Welsh businesses and will the guidance document now be updated?

So, as a result of the terms of the withdrawal agreement that was negotiated by the EU and the UK, obviously, EU law continues to apply during the transition period. But we are looking ahead to demonstrate what our priorities will be in terms of future relationships, because, obviously, the UK will be able to enter into free trade agreements. Most of those will have procurement chapters contained within them, so we're really interested to see what we can do to ensure that we protect the interests of Wales. The areas where we will be prioritising our contributions to that debate will be on decarbonisation, social value, community benefits, the foundational economy and also the circular economy. So, those are the areas that we would like to see prioritised in any future procurement chapters within free trade agreements.