Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 29 September 2021.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 1:50, 29 September 2021

Okay, so the lead Minister with the responsibility for procurement is the finance Minister, but we are already reviewing with a group of Ministers including myself and others how we further benefit local supply chains when it comes to procurement, and small and medium enterprises are a key factor, in our minds, to do so. So, that work is in hand as well as the guidance note that Rebecca Evans authorised and introduced within the last Senedd term.

When we look at the foundational economy or the everyday economy, I was pleased to see my old Labour comrade and colleague Rachel Reeves talk about this in her speech in Brighton, talking about the everyday economy and its importance and what that means, because we have recognised that both with the foundational economy challenge fund but also the work that I'm now taking forward. And when you see the work that I've been talking about and mentioned with Paul Davies about what the future of our economic mission will be, the foundational economy will still be a significant part of that. And I am now on a slightly different side of some of the work that's already been started. When I was in Eluned Morgan's shoes—without the same heel, but in her shoes—as the health Minister, we were already then talking about the work that we could do and what it meant for procurement and smaller firms and the national health service. That work continues and we have agreed for promo work to be done between our two departments to get more value for local economies. This is about building this in as a normal way of doing business to see benefits being generated in every part of our economy, and not simply driven by price, but a much greater question of value.