Diolch, Llywydd. I was very grateful to the Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee for allowing the committee, during its Stage 1 evidence taking, to take views from contributors on the consultation that the Government had carried out at that time on the use of agency workers, and for the very clear support that the committee gave in their Stage 1 report for an amendment to be brought forward at Stage 2 to make it clear that here in Wales the circumstances that appertain today in which it is not possible to use agency workers to break strike action—that that would continue to be the position here in Wales.

Let me, for the record, clear up the point that Joyce Watson raised: the provisions of this Bill will not affect arrangements such as nurse bank arrangements, where nurses and healthcare support workers provide temporary cover as a result of staff absences, shortages or short-term unfilled vacancies. Those people are not agency workers, and they would not be affected by this provision.

Let me be clear as well, Llywydd, that I do not agree with the proposition that the mover of this amendment put to the Assembly in opening this group of amendments. I believe that what I heard Janet Finch-Saunders say was that by passing this group of amendments, the Assembly would be offering freedom to employers to utilise agency workers during strike action. Now, let me be clear that were these amendments to be passed, it would remove section 2, a key part of the Bill. It would fly in the face of the consultation that was carried out. It would overturn the clear view of the committee at Stage 2, but it would not allow Welsh authorities to use agency workers to cover industrial action. And that is because, while the UK Government consulted on removing regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Businesses and Employment Agency Regulations 2003, they have not acted on that consultation. So, I do think it's very important for the mover to clear up this matter for the benefit of the Assembly this afternoon.

If these amendments were passed, the state of the law would remain as it has been for a number of decades, because regulation 7 still remains in place. So, the effect of passing these amendments would not be, I believe, to provide freedom to employers to use agency workers in the case of strike action here in Wales. The status quo would prevail—the status quo that has been sufficient for successive Conservative Governments at Westminster, and the status quo that our consultation here in Wales showed that trade unions and employers were keen to see preserved.