I’m going to focus on the role of women in the workforce in the construction sector. The words ‘women’ and ‘construction’ don’t go together traditionally, and it’s time for that to change. At present, there are far fewer women than men in this sector. Encouraging more women to join the construction workforce could overcome some of the problems in the sector for the future, as well as offer new career pathways for women in Wales.

The construction sector in Wales is growing faster than anywhere else in the UK. With projects such as the Bontnewydd relief road and the Llandeilo bypass, as well as the south Wales metro, Wylfa and the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, there will be increasing demand for skilled workers in the sector. The regional skills partnership in north Wales estimates that 8,500 workers will be needed when Wylfa is built. Raising awareness of these opportunities among young women will help to deal with the skills gaps in the future.

Of the 113,000 people who work in the construction sector, only 10 per cent are women. Women are much more likely to do office work, and it’s estimated that 1 per cent only of female workers work on a site. Dealing with this difference sooner rather than later would allow the sector to use the potential of a much wider skills pool as it grows, and to overcome a shortage of workers with skills in the future.

Apprenticeships—that’s the key pathway into the construction sector, but the division is very clear here, with 99 per cent of construction apprenticeships being filled by men. Evidently, therefore, we need to do a lot more if we want to meet that workforce demand in the future.

One way to do that is to use public procurement in a constructive way, in order to help public bodies to do more to deal with the gender imbalance and promote equality in the construction sector. It has been accepted in Wales that public procurement should provide economic, social and environmental benefits, and the Welsh Government took positive steps to ensure that. However, further steps could be taken to ensure that public procurement also helps to promote equality between the genders.

Examples of this are seen in Europe, and I want to refer to one example of the practice in Berlin, where, for large contracts for companies with more than 11 workers, the contracts have to include measures to promote women in that work. Companies have to provide details in a separate statement. Even though this is not the part of the appraisal or awarding process, the companies have to adhere to that statement. The measures include having a qualified plan to include women and increase the percentage of women in senior positions, flexible working hours, equal pay and childcare facilities. The companies are monitored as they implement these commitments that they’ve agreed to, and they can face sanctions if they fail to do that.

There is an argument that it should be a requirement for every company in Wales that receives public money to show that they understand gender issues in their sector and that they have a plan in place to deal with that. So, what about starting with the construction sector? The kind of procurement that is undertaken in Berlin can be a powerful method to increase the number of female workers in the construction sector and to overcome a shortage of jobs in the sector in the future. Thank you very much.