6. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to encourage public bodies to consider the principles of social justice when discharging their duties? OQ57231

All public bodies are expected to meet their due-regard duties contained within the socioeconomic duty and the public sector equality duty. Monitoring of these is overseen by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which provides regular progress updates to Welsh Ministers.

Thank you, Minister. As a former leader of Monmouthshire County Council, for which I declare an interest, Llywydd, I was proud back in 2017 to appoint the first cabinet member solely responsible for social justice and community development. I was delighted that, together, we delivered the council's first social justice strategy.

This strategy, which is continuously reviewed and has recently been updated, aims to ensure that a core purpose of the council is to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Monmouthshire. It helps to improve the resilience of local communities, as well as supporting the well-being of current and future generations—something that all public bodies, I'm sure, would aspire to, and I hope that's the case.

Minister, do you agree with me that more councils and public bodies in Wales need to follow the direction of MCC that it follows in designing and delivering on a social justice strategy to help create fairer, more equal communities? What more can the Welsh Government do to encourage public bodies to put the principles of social justice at the heart of everything that they do? Thank you.

I thank the Member for the question and for highlighting the work of Monmouth council and the work that you did in your role as leader as well. I know that there are numerous examples, from across the country, of different initiatives that councils, local authorities, are taking to drive forward social value and social justice at the heart of what they do. Welsh Government is very much committed to building on this and strengthening this.

The procurement duties in the social partnership and public procurement Bill will require public bodies to focus on socially responsible outcomes when it comes to spending public money. It will also place fair work at the heart of that, and what we mean by socially responsible procurement, to bring about, like you say, economic, cultural and social well-being across the work of everything that we do. It's something that we are committed to doing and are committed to legislating to build upon as well.