Rebecca Evans MS, Minister for Finance and Local Government
The UK Government has today published the response to its Green Paper consultation on procurement reform. The consultation ran from December 2020 until March 2021 with over 600 stakeholders responding, including many from Wales.
During the consultation period, we also engaged with our Welsh stakeholders to help us decide the approach we should take for reform of procurement legislation in Wales.
I announced in August that provision for Welsh Contracting Authorities is to be made within the UK Government’s Public Procurement Bill. Since then, my officials have been working closely with the UK’s Procurement Reform Bill team to input to the development of the Bill.
The aim of reforming the public procurement rules is to create a system which is simpler, more open, fair and competitive.
Now that the consultation has been published, my officials will undertake further engagement with stakeholders to hear their views on the changes made since the Green Paper was published.
As detailed in my written statement in August, the Welsh Ministers will continue to introduce the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill. Whilst the UK Government’s Public Procurement Bill focuses on the processes underpinning procurement, the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill will focus on ensuring socially responsible outcomes are achieved from our procurement. Together these two Bills will provide a new regime for procurement that delivers social, environmental, economic and cultural outcomes, including fair work.