: Trefnydd, can I call for a statement on public
sector procurement advice that the Welsh Government issues? Your
response to a recent written question on this matter gives me a
great deal of cause for concern in that you've suggested that you
might be issuing a new procurement advice notice to the public
sector in Wales, and in that answer that you issued, you
specifically referred to it being potentially targeted at the
nation of Israel, because you referred to it
dealing with places where there are territorial disputes.
Now, of course, of the countless places around the world where
there are territorial disputes, that answer that you issued
specifically mentioned the Jewish state. Now,
you'll be aware that the Welsh Government has accepted and
adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
definition of antisemitism. That refers to not
doing anything that could result in double standards being
applied to the nation of Israel. But, in
singling out Israel in your answer to a question
on procurement advice, it suggests that that might well be the
case should you issue that particular piece of advice.
So, I'm very concerned about the message that that sends to the
Jewish community in Wales. I know that the Welsh
Government does not want to send hostile messages to the
Jewish community and wants to address the
antisemitism that is out there. So, I would urge
you to look again at the procurement advice notice that you are
preparing, to make sure that your proposals do not impinge on the
good work that's been done here in Wales to deal with the rise of
antisemitism in our country.
(Minister for Finance and Trefnydd): I'd like to
reassure Darren Millar that there's absolutely no intention to
single out any nation and the response related to occupied
territories anywhere in the world. However, I do understand that
there are some significant concerns about this, so we are taking
some further legal advice before any further action is taken on
that procurement advice note, and I know that the First Minister
had a very good meeting with the board of deputies, where this
was discussed again. But just to reassure Darren Millar and
everybody else, there is no intention to single out any
particular nation in terms of the procurement advice note, but we
are taking further advice, and nothing will be published until
that advice has been received and considered.
