Chapter 3 – Reporting and Accountability
Section 39 – Annual socially responsible procurement reports
102.Section 39(1) sets out a requirement on contracting authorities to publish an annual socially responsible procurement report as soon as possible at the end of each financial year.
103.Subsection (2) provides that these reports must include a summary of the prescribed procurements that led to the award of any contract within that financial year, a review of the steps that the authority has taken to meet its objectives, what (if any) further steps could be taken in future procurements to meet those objectives and a summary of procurement that is planned for the following two years, along with any other information as may be specified in regulations made by the Welsh Ministers.
104.Subsection (2)(e) requires the Welsh Ministers to set out in regulations information that contracting authorities should include in their annual reports, subsection (3) specifies that must include information on the extent to which their public procurement activities are meeting their socially responsible procurement objectives by, for example contributing to the local economy, taking environmental and other social considerations – such as promoting and facilitating use of the Welsh language – into account.
Section 40 – Contracts register
105.Section 40(1) requires each contracting authority to maintain and publish a contracts register. Subsection (2) provides that a register contains information on ‘registrable contracts’ which are of a description prescribed by the Welsh Ministers in regulations. Subsection (3) sets out the information required to be captured in respect of each registrable contract: its name, date of award, estimated value, the address of the contractor’s principal place of business, subject matter, start date, end date and any period for which it may be extended, as well as any other information which may be set out within regulations made by the Welsh Ministers.
106.Subsection (4) provides that contracting authorities are not required to register any information which they consider would impede law enforcement or not be in the public interest, would prejudice the commercial interests of a person or competition between economic operators. Under subsection (5), the information about any contract may only be deleted from the contract after the contract has either been terminated or expired.
Section 41 - Procurement investigations
107.This section provides the Welsh Ministers with powers of investigation into how a contracting authority carries out public procurement. This could be in relation to a particular procurement or procurement activities more generally.
108.Under subsection (4) contracting authorities may be required by the Welsh Ministers to provide documents or other information for the purposes of an investigation. Subsection (5) provides that at the end of any investigation, the Welsh Ministers may make recommendations to the contracting authority, publish a report and/or lay a copy of any report before the Senedd.
Section 42 - Welsh Ministers’ annual report on public procurement
109.Section 42 requires the Welsh Ministers to publish, as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of a financial year, a report about public procurement in Wales. Subsection (2) provides that the report must summarise any investigations carried out under section 41 and information drawn from contracting authorities’ annual reports. Subsection (3) requires the Welsh Ministers to publish these reports and lay them before the Senedd.
110.Part 4 contains provisions on subordinate legislation procedures; provides powers for the Welsh Ministers to make transitional, consequential etc. provisions; and makes provision in respect of commencement, interpretation, coming into force etc.
Section 43 – Guidance
111.This section sets out details of the guidance that the Welsh Ministers may issue about Part 3 of the Act and to which contracting authorities must have regard when undertaking socially responsible procurement. Subsection (4) requires the Welsh Ministers to consult with the SPC and other stakeholders that they consider appropriate before issuing any guidance under this section.
Section 44 - Regulations
112.This section makes provision about how regulations under Part 3 of the Act are to be made. This includes provision about the procedures of the Senedd that apply in relation to the regulations, and the ancillary provision (that is, supplemental, incidental, consequential, transitional, transitory or saving provision) that may be made in these regulations.
Section 45 - Interpretation of Part 3
113.This section defines specific terms used in Part 3 of the Act and is self-explanatory.
Section 46 - General interpretation
114.This section defines specific terms used in this Act and is self-explanatory.
Section 47 - Minor amendment of the WFGA 2015
115.This section makes a minor amendment to section 9 of the WFGA 2015.
Section 48 - Coming into force
116.Subsection (1) brings section 48 of the Act into force the day after the day of Royal Assent.
117.All other provisions of the Act come into force by order made by the Welsh Ministers (subsection (1)). Subsection (2) allows orders that bring provisions into force to appoint different days for different purposes and subsection (3) enables orders to make transitory, transitional and saving provision in connection with bringing provisions into force.
Section 49 - Short title
118.This section provides that the short title of the Act is the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023.
