Jane Hutt, Minister for Finance and Leader of the House
The use of blacklists to discriminate against individuals on the grounds of trade union membership and/or activity, or for having reported concerns, for example, regarding health and safety and/or environmental matters, is wholly unacceptable.
I issued a Written Statement in June outlining the Welsh Government’s commitment to use procurement policy to help eradicate the use of blacklists in Wales.
To support this commitment, I have issued advice to every public body in Wales to provide clear guidance on the circumstances where blacklisters can be excluded from public procurement. This advice can be found here; Procurement Route Planner Toolkit
I will expect that this guidance will be applied to all relevant future contracts to help ensure that any business in receipt of public procurement expenditure does not use blacklists.
I encourage other Governments in the UK to take similar action.
This statement is being issued during recess in order to keep members informed. Should members wish me to make a further statement or to answer questions on this when the Assembly returns I would be happy to do so.