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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:26 pm on 25 January 2022.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 3:26, 25 January 2022

Thank you for raising that, and it gives me a really good chance to highlight a new approach that we've detailed in another one of our Wales public procurement notices, which is 'Decarbonisation through procurement—Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans'.

So, essentially, Welsh Government has decided to mandate the use of carbon reduction plans for Welsh Government contracts valued at £5 million or more from 1 April of this year. And we obviously recommend it, then, as good practice to the rest of the Welsh public sector, and it will basically help us go on that journey to net zero by 2030 for the Welsh public sector. And it's supported, then, by the route-map that we've published, the 'Net zero carbon status by 2030: A route map for decarbonisation across the Welsh public sector'. What it essentially does is introduce a requirement for all bidders for public contracts valued at £5 million or more to include carbon reduction plans as part of their tenders, and WPS contracting authorities can verify prospective supply chain partners are committed to working with them to achieve net zero by interrogating those carbon reduction plans. So, I think that those are a really important and significant new approach, which will be mandated now from 1 April.

Alongside that, we've been working hard to provide Welsh contracting authorities with new resources, so we've provided a new net zero carbon reporting spreadsheet and supporting guide for public bodies to calculate and report their carbon emissions. You will have heard in perhaps some of the—or some colleagues will have heard in some of the—evidence sessions about Welsh Government's approach to demonstrating our carbon impact of our spend through our draft budget, and the work that we've got in our infrastructure finance plan, which sits underneath the new infrastructure investment strategy. And then I also just want to highlight a natural resources publication, which is 'Advice on emissions accounting and reporting methods to inform Welsh public sector decarbonisation policy delivery'. So, I think there have been some quite important innovations recently, which should take us forward in this area, and I think that the carbon reduction plans will be an important part of that.