Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 23 October 2018.
A core element of the concept of a fair work nation is, of course, the fair employment practices that Hefin David has outlined there. And it is a central focus of the Fair Work Commission, which will be considering whether current measures available to Welsh Government can be taken further, and to identify what new or additional steps might be taken, and including any legislation that might be appropriate. It is worth pointing out that the Welsh Government currently has a shared parental leave scheme, for example, and it's worth saying that very loudly, Llywydd, so that more people will take advantage of it, because there is a real issue of gender inequality in the decisions that people make about their careers around the time of children, and so on. But we do do a range of other things to promote innovative and modern working practices, which is more than flexible working conditions, and they are around looking to see where we can establish output-related working practices that don't disadvantage people, for example, with any disabilities, or who need to have very flexible arrangements, because their talent, as the Member has said, is what you're paying for and not necessarily the time taken to travel to a particular place, and so on. The Business Wales website provides information to employers on how to improve productivity through flexible working arrangements, and the economic contract, as set out in our economic action plan, presents a clear opportunity to engage in dialogue with employers on a range of issues that have the potential to support individuals as well as businesses in accessing the wide range of skills available once you come away from the very standard working environment.