Thank you very much. Again, in referring back to what I've said previously, the lead amendment here places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to set targets within three years of the Act coming into force that seek to increase the value added to the Welsh economy through public procurement. The consequential amendments add a reporting requirement that ensures Welsh Ministers must provide information about the progress achieved against the targets. Now, this is directly out of the recommendation by this committee that
'The Welsh Government should bring forward amendments at Stage 2 which place a requirement on Welsh Ministers to set targets for the proportion of procurement spent in Wales and spent with specific types of suppliers such as SMEs or social enterprises. While time will be needed for the precise mechanics of data-gathering and monitoring to be worked out, these should be set within one year of implementation of the Act and no later than three years after its coming into force.'
That was our recommendation.
Obviously, the Minister, in responding, said,
'the Government accepts the recommendation in principle and we agree with the premise that we should be using public procurement to support the Welsh economy and this could be achieved through setting targets, as reflected in the co-operation agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.'
So, it comes as no surprise, as I've been talking about targets since stepping into this committee, and I'm sure everybody is fed up of me talking about them. But I do think that targets are not a stick to beat people around the head with, they are a lever and a mechanism for improvement, and we need continuous improvement within our public procurement. I've quoted figures before. We keep quoting a figure of 52 per cent of Welsh procurement, and I've no idea where that really stems from and I'd like to understand if that is a real figure, or whether or not it's something that is much higher or much lower. So, by measuring what we're doing currently, we're able to set a meaningful target moving forward, and, of course, if that target is too high or too low then it can be adjusted, but there is a mechanism here to be setting targets.
Having worked in industry and in the third sector, everyone sets targets because they want to know where they're going, and that's the whole point of setting a target: to give direction, to give an idea of what our ambition is. I've heard said about this Bill that we want it to fizz and we want to bring it alive. Well, I think that by setting a target, it does that and it sets that ambition.
So, I'd commend these amendments and look forward to what everybody's going to pile in and say about targets. I'm sure that won't happen, because we have discussed this at length in committee, but I do think it's a very important part of the things that I've said in the Chamber. By putting it pride of place on the face of this Bill, it makes us serious about public procurement, and that's why I propose these amendments. Thank you.