Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:05 pm on 7 June 2022.
Can I thank Jenny Rathbone for her contribution? I very much look forward to the work that you will do. I welcome what you will do as a committee to quite rightly scrutinise this legislation, but also to work with us as we develop it and move things forward, and I really very much welcome your contributions in terms of recognising the value that this legislation potentially brings, and another person who is excited about procurement as well in the Chamber today.
Just to just try and clarify the point you make around why socially responsible procurement: actually, the Bill sets out duties on the public bodies as specified, which are referred to as 'contracting authorities', so it's called 'socially responsible procurement', but it ensures that when procurement is undertaken, there is consideration of social, economic, cultural and environmental well-being, and there are further duties set out concerning contract management and transparency. So, as I said previously, that's why it's socially responsible procurement and we're talking about well-being and fair work, but it goes broader than that, to capture the points that the Member made there. So, the work will be around the statutory guidance about actually how we can work with Members, work with colleagues across the floor and with our social partners to ensure that we are getting that balance right in terms of actually where that social value is placed and how we can support those public bodies to make sure that we are achieving what we need to achieve. But socially responsible procurement is—. I'm sure it's something we can discuss further when we come to committee, but also in terms of the Member, if it would be helpful, I'm more than happy to write to provide further clarification in terms of what that would encompass, and what the intention is behind that.