Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Hoffwn i ddechrau drwy ddiolch i Gadeiryddion y Pwyllgor Cymunedau, Cydraddoldeb a Llywodraeth Leol a’r Pwyllgor Materion Cyfansoddiadol a Deddfwriaethol am eu gwaith wrth iddyn nhw graffu’n fanwl ar y Bil drwy gydol Cyfnod 1. Hoffwn ddiolch hefyd i Gadeirydd ac aelodau’r Pwyllgor Cyllid. Hoffwn i hefyd ddiolch i’r rhanddeiliaid a’r partneriaid cymdeithasol sydd wedi cymryd rhan yn y broses graffu, gan roi tystiolaeth ysgrifenedig a llafar i’r pwyllgor, a chyfrannu at ein hymgynghoriad i ddefnyddio gweithwyr asiantaethau yn ystod gweithredu diwydiannol.

Dirprwy Lywydd, I set out the purposes of this Bill on introduction in January, and do not intend simply to go over the same ground this afternoon. In summary, the Bill will disapply a number of provisions in the UK Government’s Trade Union Act 2016, ensuring that they do not apply to devolved public services. These provisions include check-off, facility time and ballot thresholds. We do that in order to defend and promote the successful model of social partnership in Wales, carefully and consistently developed by successive Welsh Governments, involving three different political parties elected to the National Assembly since 1999.

For the avoidance of doubt, let me also place on record again that this Bill will be unaffected by the commencement of the Wales Act 2017 next year. This Bill has been introduced and will be enacted under the current devolution settlement. Provided the Bill has reached the end of Stage 1 by the time the Wales Act is commenced, it can proceed through this Assembly. Under the current timetable, this Bill, if it succeeds, will have not simply reached the end of Stage 1, but will have reached Royal Assent before the Wales Act comes into force.

Dirprwy Lywydd, in late March, I wrote to the committees with my decision to bring forward an amendment to the Bill at Stage 2 to prohibit the use of agency workers to cover industrial action in public services following consultation late last year. This additional information was intended to assist the relevant committees to scrutinise the legislative options in their deliberations, and I hope that our consultation process, flagging the prospective action in this area, was able to provide them with the scope for informed discussions with social partners about the proposals. I look forward to the scrutiny of this policy aspect of the Bill during the rest of the Assembly process.

Dirprwy Lywydd, there are only a small number of recommendations from either committee, and I’m therefore happy to provide a summary response to them in this debate, having written to both committees to address some of the more technical issues raised in their reports. First of all, can I say that I’m grateful for the overwhelming support from social partners, and from the ELGC committee in bringing this Bill forward? That committee’s report contained a single formal recommendation: for this Assembly to support the general principles of the Bill this afternoon. The committee also welcomed the commitment to bring forward a Stage 2 amendment, noting their belief that it would strengthen the Bill and would be entirely consistent with its stated purpose and intended effect. That recommendation reflects the overwhelming evidence, I believe, received by the committee, and I welcome very much its report.

The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee made three recommendations. The first asked that I explain in this debate why I had not included the proposed amendment to the Bill at an earlier stage, and I’m happy to do that, of course. The answer lies in the nature and timing of decision making at Westminster. The Government elected there in May of 2015 passed an Act against the advice of its own law officers, of the Welsh Government and of this National Assembly, which imposed arrangements on public services that are devolved to Wales. At every step in that process, our opposition was made known. My party, and others elected here, was elected with a manifesto commitment to bring legislation before the Assembly to reverse those changes.

Alongside their Bill proposals, in the summer of 2015, the UK Government also consulted separately on proposals to rescind regulation 7 of the employment agencies regulations, which prohibit employment agencies supplying agency workers to cover industrial action. At the point of the National Assembly elections in May of last year, no outcome of that consultation had been reported. Because the National Assembly had not, therefore, previously expressed a view on the matter, and because it was not set out in any manifesto, I decided that a separate consultation on this matter would be required. That consultation has concluded and my decision in relation to it has been made known to the committees. The two aspects will come together, should a Government amendment at Stage 2 succeed. And, as I noted earlier, the ELGC committee supported that approach.

Recommendations 2 and 3 of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee report are about the power in section 2(2) of the Bill to make transitional and saving provisions. This power was included at the time of publication, because, at that point, it was not known how the UK Government would go about commencing its Trade Union Act 2016, which included similar powers. Sensibly, I think, we mirrored those powers in our own drafting. I said to the committee when I appeared before it that we will probably not need to make transitional provisions. Now that the relevant provisions in the UK Act are in force, we can see, indeed, that those powers will not be needed. As it is a power that is now without a purpose, I’m happy to say this afternoon that I will bring forward an amendment at Stage 2 to remove it, and thus address the recommendations in the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee report.

Dirprwy Lywydd, mae llawer iawn mwy yn yr adroddiadau pwyllgor, ac rwyf wedi ymateb yn fy llythyrau at Gadeiryddion y pwyllgorau. Hoffwn ddiolch iddyn nhw unwaith eto am roi ystyriaeth fanwl i’r Bil yn ystod Cyfnod 1, ac am wneud hynny mewn ysbryd mor adeiladol. Er fy mod yn disgwyl i’r Bil achosi rhwyg rhwng y pleidiau yma yn y Siambr, yr hyn sy’n glir oddi wrth y dystiolaeth a gafwyd gan randdeiliaid a phartneriaid cymdeithasol yw bod consensws llethol o blaid y Bil.

Mae fy ymateb y prynhawn yma yn cael ei wneud yn ysbryd y consensws hwnnw, ac rwyf wedi mynd ati hefyd i ymdrin ag argymhellion y pwyllgorau gerbron yr Aelodau. Fel yr argymhellwyd gan y Pwyllgor Cymunedau, Cydraddoldeb a Llywodraeth Leol, rwy’n gofyn i’r Aelodau gymeradwyo’r Bil y prynhawn yma. Yn y ffordd yma, gallwn ni barhau i fynd i’r afael ag unrhyw faterion yn ymwneud â’r gweithlu drwy weithio ar sail partneriaeth gymdeithasol, gan ddarparu gwell gwasanaethau cyhoeddus i ddinasyddion Cymru. Diolch yn fawr.