PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Last month, I realised that I had been writing this business column in the Western Mail for sixteen years, which equates to over 830 articles since January 2004. Whilst I am often asked how I come up with a new column every week, the answer is relatively easy in that I tend to have at least at least ten different potential areas of interest on the go at any one time and if they are relevant to other news within the press, then I will turn my notes into an 800-word piece.  However, occasionally the ‘awen’ does overtake me and I can knock out a column in around half an hour but whether it makes any sense is another matter entirely! Reflecting on some of the areas that have been covered since I started writing back in 2004, one that regularly concerns many businesses is that of public procurement and its potential positive effect on the Welsh economy.  Indeed, I noted in one of my first articles that public procurement was one place “where the Assembly Government can possibly mak...

Since I began writing for both the Daily Post and the Western Mail as a business columnist, one of the themes I have constantly returned to over the years is that of buying locally. Back in 2002, I referred to various initiatives in the United States of America which had encouraged organisations to support their local communities through buying local produce, with ten US states passing laws requiring that schools, prisons, and other state institutions buy a percentage of food from local farmers. Since then, I have written various pieces which have implored the Welsh Government to ensure that they do everything possible to use public procurement as an economic development tool by ensuring a greater percentage of their annual spend is with local Welsh firms. For example, in 2004 I wrote that that public sector in Wales spent approximately £3 billion on services, although very few small firms seem to be able to access this. At the time, I argued that if we could improve the proces...

Something for every politician and policymaker in Wales to consider.

An article in the Daily Post last month reported that of the £552m in goods and services procured by local councils last year, just £155m was spent in North Wales . At a time when the local business sector needs to be fully supported as it struggles to emerge out of recession, the finding that 72 per cent of local authority procurement is obtained from outside of the region is a shameful figure. In fact, when you consider that even if only half of the goods and services that councils buy were purchased from local firms, this would bring an additional £121m into the North Wales economy, generating thousands of jobs. Of course, it is not only councils that should be under the spotlight and I would also like to see health boards, universities, colleges and the Welsh Government itself release similar data for the region. Certainly, it is an issue I have been writing about since on a regular basis 2004  and I am glad that this is finally getting some of the attention it deserv...