The Welsh government will introduce a new procurement policy aimed at benefiting local communities and increasing SME participation.

The new policy will see the advertisement of contracts worth more than £25,000 on the sell2wales portal in order to attract SME applications.

Upon the announcement of the policy Welsh finance minister Jane Hutt said: “Over the past year, we have seen that good procurement can drive efficiencies and, at the same time, bring about local community and economic benefits. Public leaders must not settle for adequate procurement activity. In Wales, we already have some of the best practice available and we all must strive to achieve excellence in our procurement to get the maximum benefit from every penny we spend.”