3. Statement by the Minister for Finance and Local Government: Procurement Update

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 25 January 2022.

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Photo of Sam Rowlands Sam Rowlands Conservative 3:24, 25 January 2022

Thanks, Minister, for bringing forward today's statement. As you outlined right at the start, procurement is one of those significant levers that can be pulled in tackling climate change, and I was really glad to hear you reference that decarbonisation can be supported through a clear, smart and effective procurement policy—that's what you said. Last week, though, I had the pleasure of attending, believe it or not, the Finance Committee's scrutiny of your budget on behalf of a colleague, where procurement was raised by the future generations commissioner, Sophie Howe, and she shared with us that, in 2019-20, she carried out a section 20 review into procurement, looking at 363 Sell2Wales contracts. And the findings were quite staggering. Not a single one of those 363 tenders referenced carbon reduction as a requirement in terms of those tenders. So, there seems to be a significant gap between what is spoken about in the Chamber from the Senedd in terms of climate change and what is being done with those current levers of change through procurement. So, with this in mind, Minister, do you think the current procurement framework reflects how seriously you're taking the climate challenge that we're all facing?