Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:13 pm on 23 February 2021.
Can I thank Jenny Rathbone for her question? It's a really important point to make that the foundational economy can be supported through better procurement, through local sourcing of goods and services. We recently launched the foundational economy challenge fund, which has been promoted by Lee Waters. It's been an incredible initiative, it's risen in value quite considerably from the initial intention of investing £1 million to several million pounds, and that's demonstrated through a number of examples how better procurement can lead to more employment opportunities in local communities. The next step is then to learn from some of these initiatives and to make sure that they're mainstreamed across the economy. It can happen. It can happen. We've seen it happen in places like Preston, and what we want to do is make sure that, here in Wales, we do just the same. That's why the challenge fund has been so very important, and that's why we're making the strengthening of the foundational economy one of the five beacons within our mission.