Rebecca Evans MS, Minister for Finance and Trefnydd
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The Welsh Government has published the Wales Procurement Policy Statement (WPPS) today. This is the third WPPS which sets the strategic vision for public sector procurement in Wales and has been written in partnership with our stakeholders.
This WPPS, has been developed against a backdrop of both the Covid-19 pandemic and the continued uncertainty of the long term impacts of the UK’s departure from the EU. Now more than ever we must ensure public sector expenditure delivers even greater value in contributing to positive social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes. Effective, sustainable, procurement, and the successful delivery of works, goods and services we all rely on, has never been more important.
Public procurement can play a central role in the delivery of progressive policy priorities ranging from decarbonisation, to social value, fair work, community benefits, the circular economy and the foundational economy. These policies help to combat climate change, support jobs and training while helping the most vulnerable.
Delivery on these ambitions is reliant upon a procurement profession with the skills and capacity needed to make our goals a reality. I am proud of the progress we are making together to upskill the profession and increase training opportunities.
The WPPS will help to define our progress against the wellbeing goals we are pursuing for future generations, putting the Well-being and Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 at the heart of all procurement decisions and supporting us to achieve the ‘Wales we want’. We all have a responsibility to ensure we are preventing problems and thinking about the long-term, while maximising opportunities to deliver economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being.
The key to delivery of this WPPS will be through continued collaborative working. We will review and refresh the WPPS regularly with partners to ensure that it remains a true reflection of our shared ambition of public procurement in Wales. We aim to achieve greater transparency on outcomes.
The Welsh Government will develop an action plan to underpin delivery against the Statement’s principles which will be published on our website. I ask buying organisations, either individually or as part of a collaboration, to develop and publish their own action plans detailing how they will support the delivery of priorities at a local, regional and national level. The proposed Social Partnerships Bill statutory guidance will take into account this statement and associated action plans, placing contracting authorities under a duty to deliver socially-responsible outcomes through procurement which places fair work and social value at the centre rather than financial savings.
The WPPS is available here: https://gov.wales/procurement-policy-statement