Thank you very much to Peter Fox for those important questions and for giving me the opportunity to say a little bit more about the Welsh Government's response to the challenge of procurement reform now that we have left the European Union. Procurement is very much a complex landscape and one that is now changing, and there are opportunities for us to use the UK Government's Bill in one sense, but then also to augment that, because we've always been very clear that the decisions on the policy outcomes that we want to achieve from procurement should be only made here in Wales, and we do have very different views to the UK Government on some of those things, such as the importance of fair work and the role that procurement can and should play in driving that forward. And that's why our social partnership and public procurement (Wales) Bill will be so important in terms of enshrining those in law.

Nonetheless, I think it is an opportunity for us to use the UK Government's legislation to reform the basic underpinning processes, and those processes were set out in the UK Government's Green Paper to which Peter Fox has referred, 'Transforming public procurement'. We were presented with the option to use the Westminster legislation to reform those underpinning processes. We thought long and hard about what the right thing to do was, and we engaged very widely with Welsh contracting authorities and their view was very much that we should be going with the UK Government on this Bill, however, we should be looking at a Welsh Bill in terms of what we want to achieve. So, the kinds of processes and the nuts and bolts are in the UK Government Bill, and then the outcomes that we want to drive forward will be done in our own legislation. I think that strikes a pragmatic balance in terms of procurement reform after leaving the European Union.

Peter Fox referred to the pandemic, and one of the good things, I suppose, if we think of anything good coming out of the pandemic, has been about the way in which procurement has reformed and the way in which the procurement profession here in Wales has really risen to the challenges. Officials have worked right across the Welsh Government to procure urgent critical items, and those included, for example, the food boxes for those who were shielding across Wales, provision of mental health support to all NHS workers, accommodation for those offenders who were released early during the lockdown period, and then contracting with Royal Mail for prescription delivery, providing support to critical equipment requirement teams and the visitor pods for care homes. So, there are great examples of ways in which the procurement profession here in Wales grouped together, really, to tackle the problems and the challenges of the pandemic, and I think did a really excellent job, also, working closely, for example, with the WLGA to make face coverings available to all Welsh schools. Early on, we worked with a Welsh manufacturer to deliver high-quality, reusable and accredited face coverings, which were then delivered to schools. As well as promoting safer working environments, we managed to create jobs as a result of the expansion of that company. So, wherever possible, we were looking, through the pandemic, to support Welsh businesses but then also to look for those supply chain voids that we could fill. And that's an important piece of work that we're taking forward now beyond the pandemic—looking at our supply chains and where there are opportunities for us to fill those gaps here with supporting new Welsh businesses.

The future generations commissioner's report was really important. We worked very closely with the future generations commissioner when she was interrogating us and officials about the work that we do on procurement, and the report's been very helpful, I think, in terms of focusing our mind on the way forward. The procurement centre of excellence suggestion has been really helpful, and, as I mentioned in the statement, we launched that discovery exercise at the end of last year, again with stakeholder contributions from across the Welsh public sector. Those findings are coming together and I'll be considering them now over the coming weeks as we get everything in place, and I'll be able to provide a further update to colleagues on that as we move forward. But, again, I think having a place where we have that excellence, a home for that excellence, here in Wales, is important. We've looked at the model of the Centre for Digital Public Services, which, again, is a repository of excellence and knowledge and so on, and that's been a useful model for what we're hoping to achieve through the procurement centre of excellence.

There's a lot of interest in what we're doing in terms of food procurement. I know that Peter Fox has had some useful discussions with some of my ministerial colleagues on this as well. Our programme for government does commit to developing a Wales community food strategy during the course of this Senedd term, and that has the potential, I know, to deliver many benefits that could help us along the road to those future generations well-being goals. Of course, food is the common factor, but then societal benefits can be really wide-ranging, including economic benefits, regenerating local communities, improving well-being, mental health and physical health and the environment, and sustainability benefits, too. So, there's a lot for us to have future discussions on, I think, as we take forward that work, because I know this is an area of particular interest for Peter Fox.