Will the Cabinet Secretary explain why a) housing societies; and b) higher education and further education establishments are not subject to the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023, and confirm what consideration has been given to including these organisations under the act?
The public bodies listed in section 6(1) of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (‘the WFG Act’) are subject to the sustainable development and well-being duty. This duty requires public bodies to carry out sustainable development, which is the process of improving the economic, social, environmental, and cultural well-being of Wales by acting in accordance with the sustainable development principle, aimed at achieving the well-being goals as set out in the WFG Act. The public bodies listed in section 6(1) of the WFG Act were identified against a set of four criteria:
- The body must be over 50% publicly funded.
- The body undertakes functions or activities that impact on the economic, social, and environmental well-being of Wales or their local area.
- The body has strategic functions.
- The Auditor General for Wales has the authority to audit the body.
These criteria were used to identify public bodies in the original Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Bill as well as the recent review of public bodies that led to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (Public Bodies) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. The criteria are published in their respective explanatory memoranda.
Housing societies, otherwise known as registered social landlords, are not listed in section 6(1) of the WFG Act as they do not meet the criteria set out above.
Higher education institutions and further education colleges are also not listed in section 6(1) of the WFG Act as they are non-profit institutions serving households independent of government control and are not auditable. However, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (known as Medr), which has responsibility for the funding, oversight and regulation of tertiary education and research in Wales, is listed in section 6(1) of the WFG Act, and therefore subject to the sustainable development and well-being duty. In addition, under section 10 of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022, Medr must promote the pursuit of a civic mission, which means taking action for the purpose of promoting or improving the economic, social, environmental or cultural well-being of Wales (including action aimed at achieving any of the well-being goals in section 4 of the WFG Act).
Furthermore, representatives from the tertiary education sector in Wales contribute regularly to the Well-being of Future Generations National Stakeholder Forum, which provides oversight and advice on the implementation of the Act.
The Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 (‘the SPPP Act’) is designed to complement and build on the five ways of working that make up the sustainable development principle in the WFG Act by introducing the principle of social partnership as an essential way in which public bodies should work. Part 2 of the SPPP Act places social partnership duties on those public bodies subject to the sustainable development and well-being duty (i.e. those bodies listed in section 6(1) of the WFG Act). Therefore, neither housing societies nor higher education institutions and further education colleges are subject to the social partnership duty.