Public services and procurement
Successive governments have failed to fully grasp public service reform in Wales
Public services and procurement overview
While there has been progress, successive governments have failed to fully grasp public service reform in Wales, leaving services struggling to keep pace with innovations and improvements elsewhere in the UK. Twelve years after devolution, our public services do not have the tools to grapple with the twin challenges of multiple deprivation in our poorest communities and increased consumer expectations.
The public sector in Wales spends over £5bn a year buying goods and services from suppliers. Wales has a growing reputation as one of the worst places in the UK for public procurement. This has to change.
The new government has a crucial choice. Some say that tighter budgets mean the moment for re-organisation has passed. We believe Wales cannot afford not to re-engineer services; only re-engineering can release significant savings for frontline services. The new Assembly Government must deliver a private sector strategy for devolved public services that recognises the government's ability to engage with the private sector on its own terms to utilise the sector as a tool to deliver more efficient and effective public services in a way that accords with its beliefs. Failing to recognise and expand on the sector's existing role will leave devolved public services ill-equipped for the challenges ahead.
In reality there is a mixed market of service provision in many of Wales's devolved public services. From nursery and social care to further education and health, the private sector is providing a small but valued contribution to service delivery. However, as the Independent Commission on Social Services in Wales recently reported,the ambivalent approach of successive Assembly Governments to the private sector is resulting in failures to shape the market and achieve economies of scale.
The Welsh Government must commit to reviewing how procurement policy could better support the private and third sectors in Wales and how the tendering process could be streamlined. To remove the bureaucracy within the procurement process we endorse the Barriers to Procurement Opportunities Research report and call on the Welsh government to implement it in full.
