Statement by Minister for Finance and Government Business, Jane Hutt AM: Strengthening Procurement Policy

15:37
Janet Finch-Saunders
Minister, you will be aware of issues that I’ve raised with you in terms of procurement as regards the Llandudno north shore works, where contract standing orders were not adhered to and were not advertised on Sell2Wales, despite it being a £1.5 million contract. Contracts were approved by a series of e-mails to extend terms for a contract that was already two years out of date. I could go on. On 13 May, another report by the responsible cabinet member, councillor Mike Priestly, went to cabinet seeking retrospective cabinet approval for the work that had been completed weeks before. Minister, I did bring these matters to you here. I have written to you and I’ve met with you. This is now a matter for the Wales Audit Office as well, but I did ask you to investigate. So, please, would you come back to me with your update on what investigations have taken place? Also, would you just provide some reassurance to my constituents in Aberconwy that you do take procurement matters seriously and that you will ensure that things will be embedded across local authorities? My final question is this: when works are deemed as emergency, did you deem these as emergency works and were these exemptions that they’re maintaining they had then allowed to apply?
15:38
Jane Hutt
Well, I think that Janet Finch Saunders, who I have met and discussed these issues with, is absolutely right that the Wales Audit Office is the place for consideration of the handling and management of this particular contract and procurement arrangement, and I think it is where we should leave it today in terms of their responsibility.