6. Will the Minister make a statement on the real living wage in the Welsh public sector? OAQ(5)0037(FLG)

I thank Dawn Bowden for that. Working in partnership with trade unions and public service employers, progress continues to be made in broadening adoption of the living wage in Welsh public services.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your response. Recent research by Middlesex University and the University of Liverpool showed a clear case in support of the real living wage, as opposed to, of course, the Tories’ phony living wage, with businesses who are paying it experiencing fewer employee disputes, an increase in productivity and staff motivation, and reputational and corporate brand advantage over competitors. Another study, by the Bevan Foundation, of employers in Merthyr showed that around 6,000 workers in that area—that’s about a quarter of the local workforce—were paid below the real living wage. The Bevan Foundation research revealed that different employers are at different stages in moving towards the real living wage, but they are often able to draw encouragement and confidence from other local employers who do pay it. Wales’s biggest employer, the NHS in Wales, with the highest level of women workers as the primary earners in their family, pay the real living wage, and I’d like to pay tribute to the Cabinet Secretary who, in his former position as the health Minister, worked hard with trade unions to deliver this. So, as we approach Living Wage Week, does the Cabinet Secretary agree with me that our public services here in Wales can play a role in taking a lead on introducing the real living wage not just for their own employees, but also to make this an expectation in respect of employers providing contracted-out services, and will he also congratulate those local authorities, such as Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly councils in my constituency, who can, with some pride, call themselves living-wage employers?

Well, I certainly congratulate Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly councils for the approach that they have adopted and the leadership that they have shown in this area. The Member began, I thought, with the most important case for the real living wage, that it actually benefits employers as well as employees, and that there are strict business advantages to companies who deploy the real living wage in terms of reduced sickness, reduced absence, reduced recruitment costs, reduced training costs. It makes good business sense, and the leadership that local authorities have shown in this area helps to demonstrate that proposition.