Thank you. I move the motions. Over £8 billion is spent on public procurement each year in Wales. Improving the way we procure can drive innovation and resilience and deliver benefits across Wales by supporting our local economy and saving the taxpayer money. Through this Bill, there's an opportunity to simplify the complex procurement landscape that currently exists for buyers and suppliers across Wales, and to develop a more transparent procurement regime.

All the matters of concern I raised in my legislative consent memoranda have how been resolved, aside from the international agreement matters, which I will address later. The resolving of these concerns is significant, and it's the result of good working between Welsh Government officials and officials in the UK Government. We have tabled two motions to ensure that the Senedd can explore the issues relating to the Bill and reach its decision on consent. 

Members will see in memorandum No. 5 that I am recommending consent to the core procurement elements of the Bill, but that consent is withheld for certain provisions of the Bill that concern international trade. As Members will see, there are good constitutional reasons for the recommendation to withhold consent.

I will firstly address the arguments for recommending consent for core procurement provisions of the Bill, which represent the majority of the Bill. Brexit, the pandemic and, now, the current economic crisis have left our Welsh businesses crying out for stability and certainty. There is an opportunity through the Bill to reform the existing rules and processes underpinning public procurement in Wales, and to ensure that they are streamlined and simplified for all users, whilst at the same time avoiding confusion, inconsistency and uncertainty for organisations that conduct business across the border. 

My officials have worked closely and constructively with officials in the UK Government to ensure Welsh objectives have been included in the Procurement Bill and ensure maximum alignment between the Procurement Bill and our Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill. Together, these Bills will establish an effective and efficient procurement regime in Wales, which maximises the opportunities to achieve greater value for money and deliver social, environmental, economic and cultural outcomes for Wales. 

One of the most significant benefits of the Procurement Bill is that it will embed greater transparency throughout the commercial life cycle. I'm sure that we can all agree that any measures to improve transparency are welcome, and will provide reassurance to the Welsh taxpayer that opportunities to achieve greater value for money are being maximised through our procurement activity. This increased transparency will provide the ability to collect more transparent, reliable and meaningful procurement data, which will support analysis of how Welsh public money is being spent. It will give us access to detailed information to monitor for signs of waste and inefficiency and to identify potential corruption.

It will also give contracting authorities the data that they need to collaborate better, drive value for money, and identify and monitor social value and community benefits in their procurements. This data will also help with making more robust evidence-based decisions for procurement policy in the future. Finally, and most importantly, we have secured stand-alone equivalent regulation-making powers in the Bill, which means that the Senedd will be able to fully scrutinise the detail of the secondary legislation as it's developed. It will allow for any future legislative changes to be made here in Wales.

I was grateful for the diligence and the support of the various Senedd committees in their scrutiny of the memoranda and the Bill. The committees highlighted important areas of concern, such as in relation to the commencement provisions contained in the Bill. In order to commence the provisions of the Bill regulating procurement by Welsh contracting authorities, the UK Government must obtain the consent of the Welsh Ministers, meaning that the Welsh Ministers have a say when the provisions of the Bill will commence in relation to Wales. If Welsh Ministers withhold consent, then the financial implications will be determined at that time.

A notable benefit of joining the Procurement Bill and commencing the provisions of the Bill at the same time as England and Northern Ireland is the certainty, consistency and continuity that this will realise for the Welsh contracting authorities, as well as ensuring our Welsh suppliers who conduct business across the borders can continue to do so without interruption or additional costs. Whilst I regret that the committees had some concerns with certain aspects of the legislative consent memoranda for the Bill, I was pleased that the committee reports on the memoranda largely concur with the benefits that this Bill will bring to Wales.

I'll now turn to addressing the arguments for recommending withholding consent to certain of the provisions of the Bill that relate to international agreements. The two outstanding matters of concern present a threat to fundamental constitutional principles and our devolution settlement. They relate to two clauses in the part of the Bill that deals with the implementation of procurement obligations in international trade agreements and concern the power to add international agreements to the list in Schedule 9 to the Bill, and the power to deal with procurement-related trade disputes relating to international agreements. The changes these powers would make are not controversial. However, both powers have been included as concurrent, meaning there is no requirement for UK Ministers to obtain the consent of the Welsh Ministers when they're exercising this power in relation to devolved areas.

This mirrors the position taken with the Trade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill, which the Senedd recently debated and refused consent to. The UK Government's continued approach to only including concurrent powers in legislation relating to trade deals is unacceptable, and, despite the exhaustive discussions at official and ministerial level, the UK Government is unwilling to make any amendments to these powers. Welsh Ministers have repeatedly committed to the timely implementation of international agreements.

It's important for Members to note that the clauses in the Bill containing these powers are about ensuring suppliers from countries the UK has trade agreements with can access the UK procurement market. They do not relate to the main purpose of the Bill, which is the reform of the procurement rules in the UK, rules that will apply to suppliers both within the UK and outside it. This is what I mean when I refer to the core procurement elements of the Bill. So, despite our outstanding concerns in relation to certain of the provisions on the implementation of international agreements, I hope Members will share my strong belief that the changes being introduced as a result of the Procurement Bill will make public procurement more accessible to businesses, including our SMEs, will drive greater value for money for Welsh taxpayers, and will maximise opportunities to deliver social, environmental, economic and cultural outcomes for Wales. Diolch.