Diolch yn fawr. We consider the annual socially responsible procurement reports to be a key mechanism to ensure that the Bill is having the desired effect in improving public procurement, both at an individual public body level, and also at a strategic national level, as the information reported on in these reports is collated and analysed by the Welsh Ministers, as per their duty under section 42 to produce an annual report on procurement nationally.

As I said in Stage 2, the provisions included in this section of the Bill, as introduced, to set out what the public authority had done did not go far enough and the real proof would be in the pudding—measuring the impact of those actions through the outcomes being achieved on the ground. I welcomed the Minister’s recognition of this in her amendment at Stage 2, but also noted a danger of a two-tier system being created in this section, where some things 'must' be reported on, and others 'may' be reported on.

The amendment rectifies that position and will ensure that we have, for the first time, a consistent standard baseline of data on the impacts of public procurement on the well-being of Wales in the widest sense. Whilst the details will be set out in regulations, the information will have to be included in each body’s annual report. And at the least, we expect that to contain information that will enable public bodies to be held to account on how their procurement activities are benefiting the economy of the area, including through the award of contracts to small and medium-sized enterprises; taking environmental considerations into account; and taking other social considerations into account.

This will, for instance, enable the contribution of the body’s procurement activities and the value added to the local and Welsh economy to be measured, for accountability and also a baseline for future development. Hopefully, then, there can be no excuse or practical impediment to prevent setting targets in the future, once the first collection exercise has been done as a result of this duty. This will also enable greater alignment between the objectives of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and this piece of legislation, as well as ensuring that the impact of the Bill can be more effectively monitored.