Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. According to the Fawcett Society, women will lose approximately £300,000 over their working lives because of unequal pay. As you know, enforcement of equal pay legislation is in the hands of the employee. Does the Cabinet Secretary agree with me that ensuring gender-equal pay should be the job of the employer, rather than the employee?
Michelle Brown: Enforcing equal pay rights is made extremely difficult, if not impossible, by the lack of transparency regarding pay by employers. A worker can’t make a claim regarding equal pay unless they know what everyone else is being paid and have a comparator. Admittedly, the Welsh Government have no control over what private sector employers do. However, Welsh Government does have control over what...
Michelle Brown: I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear whether you’re prepared to actually introduce pay transparency in the public sector, because if you’re not, can you explain to women in the public sector how they’re going to enforce their equal pay rights if you won’t tell them what the relative pay rates in the rest of their organisation are?
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. I welcome the additional community support officers that you’ve announced and spoken about in your statement. However, it’s a pity that, certainly in north Wales, too many police stations are now inaccessible and the premises sold off. The security of having a visible and easy to find police station and...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, you recently published the categorisation of schools in Wales. Classification of the schools will only be of use if that information is used promptly and effectively to help schools improve; otherwise, children will continue to languish in schools that are not performing to standard. Are you prepared to give a personal assurance to the Assembly...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for that. As far as the red, amber, and green classifications are concerned, can the Cabinet Secretary tell us how many children live in catchment areas where both primary and secondary schools are deemed as either amber or red? I’m sure the Cabinet Secretary agrees with me that subjecting a child to a school that requires improvement is unacceptable and it would be a national...
Michelle Brown: Okay. Thank you. Having asked about the scale of the problem, it’s, of course, wrong to treat anyone, especially children, as statistics. So, I’d like to hear some reassurance from the Cabinet Secretary that any school requiring help will be treated equally compared with other schools needing help, regardless of the size of the school.
Michelle Brown: I would like to thank and congratulate the organisations and specialists who gave evidence to the committee during the inquiry for their willingness to say it as they see it. Stakeholders in both the statutory and voluntary sectors talk about a lack of leadership and strategic direction from the Welsh Government. The Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services—CWVYS—reports that 30 per...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. I welcome the announcement of the endowment fund for music that you’ve made today. I’m very supportive of any constructive ways that we can improve music tuition in schools and bring more children and young people into enjoying and loving and playing and taking part in music. I would like to ask you for some detail, though. How long do you...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. I’m pleased that the Cabinet Secretary has picked up the OECD’s point about leadership, and I agree with her that leadership is an area that demands significant and urgent development. However, the Cabinet Secretary hasn’t mentioned in her statement the other recommendations made by the OECD, which calls for further policy attention in...
Michelle Brown: Zero-hours contracts, which I’ll call ZHCs, have been around for a long time, benefiting both employers and workers with their flexibility. However, since 2004, there’s been a huge increase in the number of ZHCs. So, why the increase? An employer responding to new legislation is likely to ask, ‘Does it apply to me and, if so, how can I avoid it and how do I minimise its cost?’ Some...
Michelle Brown: No. We need employment laws that are simple and accessible—laws that don’t require a law degree to navigate them. We need a tribunal system that is accessible, simple and inexpensive. The Tory Act in the last Government to introduce substantially greater tribunal fees, where somebody wanting to make a claim for unfair dismissal is now having to pay £1,250 for the privilege of having...
Michelle Brown: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on enforcement action made under the Animal Welfare (Breeding of Dogs) (Wales) Regulations 2014? OAQ(5)0487(FM)
Michelle Brown: Okay, thank you for that answer, First Minister. Information received from anti-puppy farming campaigners says that local authorities do not have the resources to enforce the legislation. In its report, ‘Animal Welfare in England: Domestic Pets’, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee recommended that the Government in the UK ban third-party sales of dogs and that dogs should...
Michelle Brown: I note from the media there’s a lot of fear and uncertainty being stoked up around this issue at the moment. Peugeot hasn’t said that it intends to close the plant. Indeed, Peugeot’s boss has suggested that his company will want to keep production in Britain to take advantage of future UK trade deals that could benefit exports. That’s quite a logical position, particularly in light of...
Michelle Brown: Welsh Labour has had control over education in some shape or form since the inception of the Assembly. Sometimes they’ve been assisted by coalitions with Plaid Cymru or the Lib Dems, as they currently are now. Elements of the Estyn report today clearly show the people of Wales what happens when you hand control of education policy to one of the so-called progressive parties. Firstly, Estyn...
Michelle Brown: No. [Continues.]—pupil councils, conflict resolution, community activity and charity fundraising and suchlike, but raising standards in reasoning, problem solving, and logic through traditional subjects must take priority. Secondly, I want to talk about teacher retention, and the impact this has on the areas that Estyn monitors. Estyn talks about developing the profession. It outlines...
Michelle Brown: I welcome today’s debate proposing that the National Assembly celebrates International Women’s Day. I’m sure many Members and the wider public will reflect on the well-known women of the present day and throughout the history of Wales. However, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the contributions made by ordinary women in Wales—women who helped build this country,...
Michelle Brown: I support, in principle, extending access to the countryside for everyone. However, a balance needs to be found between the right of people to roam in and enjoy our countryside, and the needs of landowners and farmers to manage and use their land effectively. What discussions have you had with landowners, and organisations representing them, to persuade them to allow increased access to their...
Michelle Brown: We’re blessed in Wales with a stunning landscape and extensive countryside and a great way of seeing that countryside and taking exercise at the same time is on horseback. It’s not just a means of taking exercise; it can be of great benefit to disabled people and there have been schemes across the country for riding for the disabled. Maintaining a riding establishment has become ever more...
