That brings us to our next item, which is the  Member debate under Standing Order 11.21 on the living wage. I call on Jane Hutt to move the motion. Jane Hutt.

Motion NDM6860 Jane Hutt

Supported by David Rees, Dawn Bowden, Hefin David, Helen Mary Jones, Jayne Bryant, Jenny Rathbone, John Griffiths, Julie Morgan, Mark Isherwood, Mick Antoniw, Mike Hedges, Rhianon Passmore, Rhun ap Iorwerth, Vikki Howells

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales

1. Notes the report by Cardiff Business School, 'The Living Wage Employer Experience'.

2. Welcomes the action taken by 174 employers across the public, private and third sectors in Wales to pay their employees the real living wage.

3. Calls on the Welsh Government to:

a) identify measures to support more employers in the public, private and third sectors to adopt the real living wage and become accredited real living wage employers; and

b) consider strengthening the Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains in relation to the real living wage.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Llywydd. I'm pleased to open this debate on the real living wage following Living Wage Week last month. I'm delighted at the cross-party support for this individual Member's debate today. The real living wage is based on the cost of living and is voluntarily paid by over 4,700 UK employers who believe that a hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay. The real living wage differs to the UK Government's national living wage, which is based on a target to reach 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020, and is not calculated according to what employees and their families need to live on. But a real living wage meets the costs of living, not just the Government minimum. 

A year ago, I joined the real living wage leadership group here in Wales, chaired by Professor Rachel Ashworth, dean of Cardiff Business School. This group liaises with the Living Wage Foundation, which is at the heart of the real living wage campaign in Wales. Our group in Wales includes representatives from the public, private and third sectors, including Guy Leach, managing director of the Welsh construction company Knox & Wells Limited, and Mari Arthur, chief executive of Cynnal Cymru, responsible for the accreditation of real living wage employers in Wales.

I've used the opportunity over the past year to raise questions with Cabinet members regarding progress and the delivery of the real living wage in Wales as a key factor in addressing in-work poverty and low wages in pursuit of a fairer society and more productive economy. In my questions to Ministers, I've sought to identify the avenues by which the Welsh Government can encourage employers in Wales to adopt the real living wage. The latest figures show 174 employers in Wales across the public, private and third sectors pay their employees the real living wage, which stands at £9 an hour, compared with the UK Government's national living wage hourly rate of £7.83. 

The Welsh Government led the way in the public sector and has been an accredited living wage employer for the Welsh Government civil service since 2015. Mark Drakeford secured the real living wage for the Welsh NHS workforce as a result of negotiations during his time as health and social services Minister. The Welsh NHS has paid the real living wage since January 2015. Local authorities have signed up to the real living wage, with Cardiff Council moving towards becoming a real living wage city, including public, private and third sector employers, as well as themselves as an authority. I was delighted to attend the launch of the Living Wage Week in November with the former First Minister, Carwyn Jones, announcing the updated rate at the Bigmoose Coffee Co. in Cardiff, a charity that provides employment and support to homeless people in the city and pays the real living wage.

I'm also pleased with the progress in the Vale of Glamorgan, where I've been campaigning as Assembly Member for many years to secure the real living wage for employees and people working directly for the Vale of Glamorgan Council. I'm pleased that the Vale of Glamorgan Council is due now to pay the real living wage to those who are working directly for them, benefiting around 4,000 staff across council departments and schools from 1 April next year, and I think that's a very welcome move. Indeed, Barry Town Council also pays the real living wage in my constituency, as do many private sector and third sector employers.

I'm also pleased that the management at Cardiff Airport has agreed to pay the real living wage to all employees from next April. This motion today is directed across the Welsh Government to engage all Cabinet members who have some influence over local government and public services, economy and infrastructure, finance via the economic contract and ethical code, education for higher education, further education and schools, health and social services and, of course, equalities.

Addressing low pay will directly and positively impact on the gender pay gap and the often inequitable pay of disabled people and black, Asian and minority ethnic people in Wales. The Women's Equality Network said they want

'Businesses to commit to paying staff a living wage (as calculated by the Living Wage Foundation) and to facilitate flexible working practices.'

And the Equality and Human Rights Commission recently reported on disabled people's financial circumstances, highlighting how the disability pay gap still persists, with disabled people earning less per hour on average than non-disabled people.

I've referred in the motion to the work undertaken by Cardiff Business School on the living wage employers' experience across the UK. The central finding of the report is that the real living wage has been a positive experience for the majority of employers, supporting their claim that there is a business case for becoming a real living wage employer. Indeed, 93 per cent of employers feel that they've benefited from accreditation—reputational gains enhancing their employer brands, improving relations with customers and clients and upgrading human resources management. And, importantly, in terms of the strength of our code of practice on ethical employment, access to contracts or funding are cited as a positive outcome.

So, I'd like to see the Welsh Government move to change the commitments expected of employers securing grants and contracts from 'considering' paying at least the real living wage to a real commitment with a timescale for achieving this outcome. This will require support and resources in order for this to be achieved both within the Welsh Government and external agencies. I think that, in Scotland, we can see lessons learnt about the positive impact of this investment.

So, I would ask the Welsh Government and our new First Minister to include the real living wage as a key priority in the Fair Work Commission brief and to steer a cross-Government co-ordinating group to set milestones for this Welsh Government to work to and achieve. I look forward now to hearing Members' contributions.

I'm pleased to support this motion. Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, what was then called a 'minimum income standard' was first calculated and documented by Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Social Policy in 2008. This was a UK average and did not include variations inside and outside London. Following a campaign by Wrexham-based TCC, Together Creating Communities, the Assembly introduced a living wage on the basis of the minimum wage plus 15 per cent for cleaning and contract staff in 2006. Six years ago today, the Assembly formally announced that it had become an accredited living wage employer.

The Cardiff Business School report 'The Living Wage Employer Experience' notes that the living wage has influenced UK Government policy, quote,

'most notably with the 2015 announcement of the national living wage' and evidence of real living wage employers having a human resource motivation. The real living wage is the only UK wage rate voluntarily paid by over 4,700 UK businesses, over 3,000 of which have gained Living Wage Foundation accreditation, which believe that their staff deserve fair pay. These employers pay the real living wage, higher than the Government minimum and the London living wage in London. Over 180,000 UK employees have received a pay rise as a result of the living wage campaign, and the living wage foundation states that it enjoys cross-party support. The rates are calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation, on behalf of the Living Wage Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission set up in January 2016, using a formula based on what happens to living standards from one year to the next in both London and the UK. The commission provides a transparent decision-making forum to resolve specific judgments about how to incorporate policy changes and new sources of data into the calculation. It also advises on how to manage extreme year-to-year variations from general rises in living costs.

The current UK living wage outside London is £9 an hour and £10.55 in London, but average earnings in Wales are lower and have grown slower than in other UK nations. According to the Bevan Foundation, 300,000 employees in Wales are paid below the voluntary living wage. Their 2016 'Fair Pay' report shows that the living wage would benefit Wales's employers, employees and their families, and the wider economy with minimal risks. They state that the benefits for Wales's employers include increased productivity, improved staff recruitment, attendance and retention, and reputational enhancement, with very modest impacts on wage bills, although varying with the size and sector of the organisation.

They add that the benefits for Wales's employees include more cash, more time and increased well-being, although the extent of the gains depends on employee working patterns, welfare entitlement and other household arrangements.

The wider economy, they say, benefits from increased tax and national insurance revenues and savings on benefits. Modelling of the impact on total employment suggests that, at worst, there's a very small risk of very limited job loss, and, at best, some increase in employment. 'Importantly', they say,

'many households may find that they're able to have slightly income without working additional hours, be more financially secure and maybe less reliant on benefits. The gender pay gap is likely to narrow due to the overrepresentation of women in Wales's low-paid workforce, and individual well-being and financial independence can also be strengthened.'

As a certain former Mayor of London said,

'It is a win-win scenario for the workforce and employers alike.'

'Importantly', he said,

'this isn’t just about economic dividends, but the immeasurable improvement to quality of life and workplace morale.'

The Welsh Conservatives believe in aspiration and that hard work should be rewarded with fair pay. Our workforce is the most valuable asset we have, and anything that undermines their efforts is damaging to our economy. It's vital that people get the wages they're entitled to.

Yes, we support the national living wage, which stands to benefit 150,000 working people in Wales by 2020. However, we also recognise that the real living wage can provide clear benefits in terms of productivity and absenteeism. We have, therefore, long supported action to build on the national living wage to further support public sector workers, and every large business should also aim to pay the voluntary living wage, and we should work with small businesses to explore how they can achieve this on a sustainable basis. Anything that can further improve the living standards of the hard-working people of Wales should be explored. Diolch yn fawr. 

I'm pleased to rise today to support this motion and was very glad to see it tabled by Jane Hutt in the first instance and supported by so many colleagues. Like, I'm sure, many in this Chamber, I feel very angry that so many of our fellow citizens work so very, very hard and are still poor. I object to people's taxes being used to subsidise bad employers who ought to be able to pay wages without people working full-time having to depend on benefits. And, of course, it is particularly women—often women working a number of part-time jobs—who are affected by low wages, and it is on women's experience that I particularly want to focus today.

It's clear the living wage policy has been a success and, clearly, expanding it has been an important part of the Government's economic and tackling poverty strategies. But, still, an estimated 26 per cent of employees in Wales are paid below the real living wage. That means just over a quarter of our fellow citizens effectively living in in-work poverty. And we mustn't confuse the actual living wage, the real living wage, and what is called the living wage—what is the statutory minimum.

Now, a disproportionate number of those 26 per cent are women, particularly part-time workers and those under 30, and women face many additional economic penalties. The pay gap between women and men—we sometimes call it a gender pay gap, but, actually, it's a sex pay gap, and it's quite important, I think, to use the correct legislation, as it is referred to in the Equality Act 2010—on a median hourly, full-time basis, excluding overtime in April this year, was 7.3 per cent in Wales and 8.6 per cent in the UK. Now, that's, sadly, not because women in Wales are paid any better; it's because men in Wales are paid slightly worse.

In Wales, the gap has increased by 0.9 percentage points, and, in the UK, it's decreased by 0.5 percentage points, so we could argue that, here, we are at risk of travelling in the wrong directions. As Members of the Chamber will know, regulations under the Equality Act place a requirement on all private and voluntary sector employers with 250 employees or more to publish information on their sex pay gap. Following the first round of reporting this year, and based on over 10,000 employers reporting, just over 78 per cent reported that they paid men more than women on average, and, of course, this is focusing on full-time pay, and it doesn't look at the part-time work penalty that we know women suffer from.

We also know that a frighteningly high percentage of new mothers report having negative or possibly even discriminatory experiences, either during pregnancy and on maternity leave, or on their return to work from maternity leave. It's clear that the Government needs to take—the Welsh Government—more action on this, though what they've done already is welcome. Tackling low pay and discrimination against women in the workplace has to become more of a priority, and I very much hope the work that's being done, led at the moment by the leader of the house, will help to contribute towards that.

The minimum wage policy, as I said, has had some successes and it's enabled a discussion of the living wage to become more prominent, but it remains the case that, in Wales, an estimated 8 per cent of jobs pay the legal minimum wage, and some of them less than that. That's leaving a great many of our fellow citizens working very hard and staying very poor. We know, from the Low Pay Commission's work, that over half of those low-paying jobs are concentrated in three sectors: retail, hospitality and cleaning and maintenance. If you take those employed in the private sector, that would also include carers, but because we have, for example, introduced a living wage in the health service, carers, as a whole, don't show up, but, if you take the ones employed by the private sector, they belong there. So, we can't, in my view, have a meaningful discussion in this Chamber about low wages, poverty and economic exploitation without including sex discrimination in the debate.

We must tackle segregation in employment; we must tackle maternity payment penalty and straightforward sex discrimination. I would go further and say that we can only—only—tackle low wages if we eliminate the sex pay gap, and many of our economic problems would be substantially reduced if we were able to do so. So, I'd like to associate myself with some of the comments that Jane Hutt has made about practical things that the Welsh Government could do. For example, if it announced that it and other public-sector organisations in Wales would only use living wage employers for cleaning, maintenance, hospitality and care, what a signal that would send to those industries, and what a huge impact it would have. So, I hope that the Government will support this motion; our hard-working fellow citizens deserve no less from us. We will not tackle in-work poverty unless we tackle sex discrimination in the workplace, and I believe that there is so much more that we could do.

It seems we've come a long way since 1997, and listening to Mark Isherwood list the benefits of a living wage, wouldn't it have been great for him to have been around in the mid 1990s to try and persuade the Conservative Government to introduce a national minimum wage? They were dead set against it—absolutely, categorically, dead set against it. The national minimum wage, according to them, would destroy our economy. They've now changed their minds, and it's good that it's been the Labour Party that has created that change. But, having said that, the work of Government must continue, and that's why this motion is so worthy of support, and the fact that the real living wage is what we should be paying throughout Wales, as Helen Mary Jones has said.

I just wanted to draw attention to Educ8, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and Wales Co-operative Centre in my constituency, who are all accredited living wage employers, and Caerphilly council, who are not an accredited living wage employer, but pay the real living wage.

I'd also like to focus my comments on the Cabinet Secretary's policy for the foundational economy and the economic action plan, and particularly the work that that the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change in Manchester—CRESC—has done. They've highlighted the fact that, if you have a focus on the foundational economy, it will also focus on low-wage, low-tech employment, and that is particularly the problem in northern Valleys communities and many of the communities in the northern part of the constituency that I represent. It is a particular problem, and that is partly because the environment is dominated by small firms and, particularly, micro firms. That's not to say that all micro firms are low-wage employers, but they do have a tendency—there is a bigger proportion that has a tendency—to that direction. We often talk about human resource practices in small micro firms as 'bleak house' in that it's not the paradise that you might think; you don't get the freedom that you might think, working in a small firm.

But I do want to draw the Chamber's attention to the Federation of Small Businesses's report that was produced and launched today, 'A Skilful Wales', in which they also highlight that micro firms are also more likely, by 53 per cent, to be using and paying the real living wage than firms employing more than 10 people. So, there is a good picture; it's a complex picture, but there is a good picture in the foundational sector.

So, a policy focus on the foundational economy that the Cabinet Secretary now enthusiastically espouses gives the Welsh Government those levers in the areas that they've chosen as sectors—that's care, food, retail and tourism. Their significance as providers and employers means that the Welsh Government can gain leverage on economic and social outcomes in those foundational sectors. Specifically, CRESC suggest that the Welsh Government should break with the idea of creating a generic business environment with non-standard policies that are adapted to sectoral characteristics and specific business requirements, recognising the complexity of the foundational sector, and even those four sectors that the Government have chosen—recognising the complexity and using what governmental power there is to leverage in influence in those sectors. 

In food, for example, this might involve negotiating with suppliers on formal commitments on sourcing, training and living wages. CRESC argue that the Government should encourage responsible business by promoting continuity of ownership for SMEs. One of the problems is that when our SMEs get to a level of success they're then bought by other organisations that may not have the same altruistic motives with regard to their human resource practices. So, public procurement can also play an important part, where Welsh Government uses its procurement powers to boost the foundational economy by requiring contractors and suppliers to pay the living wage.

We can create a policy environment that supports the foundational economy and locally based SMEs and then embed within that a culture of paying the living wage in those companies. It has the potential to be hugely beneficial to SMEs if you pay the living wage, as has already been outlined—the benefits to an organisation of doing so—and we can create that right policy environment. There is an example that we've talked about before, in Preston, with the anchor organisation, but also talking about the supply webs that exist across the northern Valleys, enabling those to grow, expand, and then eventually pay the real living wage in those organisations.

I’m very pleased to be able to support the motion. We have come a long way, as Hefin David just said, from the arguments back in the 1990s about the value of the minimum wage at that time. It does say something about our understanding now that the party that did oppose the minimum wage back then has now introduced some kind of minimum wage themselves, although it’s not the minimum wage that those of us who want to go further want to see. But we do understand, don’t we, the value to the broader economy of giving more money to people for their hard work.

Tackling unemployment was the aim previously. We understand now that better jobs and better pay—that’s what the Welsh economy needs. And it’s a concern for me, and I have repeated it here many times, that the Welsh Government still places too much emphasis on the fact that unemployment, yes, is quite low in Wales at present. It’s a good thing, but we can’t rely on that as a sign of where our economy is going.

But given that we do understand and do support the principle of a minimum wage or, rather, a real living wage, we need to look at what the Government and the broader public sector in Wales can do. It needs to put its own house in order, certainly, and there is very good work that’s been done over the years in pushing the living wage out across the public sector, but we are still waiting for some staff in Cardiff Airport, for example, to get that wage, and we’re still looking across the public sector and seeing that there are gaps that need to be filled, and we have to put our own public services’ house in order as well.

And, yes, we do need to use procurement processes, as Hefin David and Helen have mentioned, to ensure that those who do provide services in the public sector are recognised and are chosen because they are companies that do pay the living wage.

Now, according to the annual study of KPMG for 2018, Wales is one of the three parts of the UK that have the highest rates of jobs earning less than the living wage. So, we know that this is a very acute problem for us here in Wales, and we’ve heard reference already to some of the sectors where those problems are particularly acute: in hospitality, catering, retail, art and leisure, and also in agriculture, health and care and so forth—far too many jobs paying less than the living wage. The Government has to push out this message that help is available—and we have to ensure that the help is available—for companies and bodies to be able to receive the living wage accreditation and persuade them of the great benefits, which were shown in an analysis by the Cardiff Business School, which certainly shows that there is no evidence of living wage employers trying to get that money back in other ways. Ninety-three per cent of those who took part in the survey feel that they have had great benefit from having the accreditation for the living wage, benefit to their reputation as bodies, often, making it easier for them to recruit and making it easier for them to retain staff. Some said that the accreditation had led to them offering more training to their staff, so therefore giving them a pay rise and upskilling their staff. So, the knock-ons are very obvious. And there's evidence, then, of companies moving workers from part-time to full-time roles, from temporary contracts to full-time contracts, and introducing new ways of working, because they are thinking differently about the ways in which they do pay their workers and appreciate their staff.

But there is a broader economic impact, of course, in ensuring that our workers have more money to spend within their local economies. I think the recent report by the Smith Institute estimated that, if you paid the living wage to those who are not on the living wage in the Cardiff area only, you’d have about £24 million in additional funds being paid as wages that could be spent within the local economy. That must be something that we should be pushing for across Wales. I support this, and my party supports this, because it is beneficial for individuals. And what’s beneficial for individuals is beneficial for families, and what’s beneficial for families is beneficial for communities, and the well-being of communities builds our national well-being. So, yes, we have gained a lot of ground in the area of the living wage, but there is a long way to go, and I wish to see the Welsh Government doing more to ensure that Wales becomes a real living wage country.

A few speakers have already said that we’ve made a lot of progress but we’ve got a long to go, but I think very significant progress—and I’d like to mention it, because I was there—was the passing of the minimum wage legislation, which was introduced by the Labour Government that went in in 1997—part of its great reforms. I think that was the beginning that has led now to this campaign. And I congratulate Jane Hutt and Mick Antoniw and others for bringing this forward today, because I think this is a real bread-and-butter issue, as our new First Minister has said. It's about the money that workers have in their pockets after the bills are paid. It addresses in-work poverty, as others here have said today. At one time, we thought if you had a job, that was it; you were out of poverty. Now we know that in-work poverty is one of the hardest issues to address, so bringing in a real living wage is absolutely vitally important to all our citizens.

There are now 175 employers in Wales accredited by the Living Wage Foundation who've signed up to pay the real living wage. Of course, it does particularly affect young people if they're under 25, because the gap between the lower rate national minimum wage and the real living wage is greatest for those in the 18 to 25 age group. That does amount to quite a significant—nearly £3,200 a year, which is an awful lot of money. I'm very pleased, as Jane Hutt mentioned, that Cardiff council was an early supporter of the real living wage, signing up in 2012, and we know that there are a lot of third sector organisations who pay the real living wage, such as Women's Aid, Chwarae Teg and Mind. I'm also pleased that there are 96 private sector employers in Wales paying the real living wage, and in Cardiff, Jane Hutt mentioned the Bigmoose Coffee Company, where the living wage week was launched; PR firm Freshwater, the law firm Darwin Gray, the Cardiff Window Cleaning Company and IKEA, who all pay their staff a fair day's pay for a hard day's work. So, I think we want to congratulate those private sector employers and encourage them, because, obviously, part of this campaign is to encourage private sector employers to do this.

I think a lot of speakers today have highlighted very clearly why employers should bring in the real living wage rather than the UK Government's national living wage. There are moral reasons. We want people to have enough money to live on. But, obviously, there are sound business reasons as well, and several speakers have already mentioned the Cardiff Business School's employer experience survey of 840 employers, carried out in autumn 2016, and I think speakers have highlighted the real benefits of introducing the real living wage, and I won't repeat those.

But I think paying the real living wage is so important to those who are in low-paid work, because it can be the difference between making ends meet and going under. I think we all know the terrible stress that so many families are under at the moment. Particularly, we see people in our surgeries, and the austerity has hit so many families so hard. As a country, we have too many workers who are on low wages, and I know that in Wales we have a particular issue, because a report by the Resolution Foundation showed that people in Wales have the second-lowest increase in wages in the UK after the north-east of England. Compared with a leap in London of wages of 18 per cent, wages here have gone up just 4.5 per cent.

So, I'd like to welcome the First Minister, Mark Drakeford's, manifesto commitment to promoting equality through the fair work agenda and the real living wage, as well, of course, as closing the gender pay gap. Like him, I believe that the most effective way out of poverty and the best route to fulfilled lives, which of course also means your health and your well-being—it means everything that you do—comes through the creation of worthwhile, properly rewarded employment. And the Welsh Government does have a great opportunity to spread the living wage through our supply chains, which would help create prosperity throughout the country.

I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, Ken Skates.

Diolch, Llywydd. Can I begin by thanking Jane Hutt for bringing forward this important, and I think very timely, debate and motion this afternoon? Jane has been a tireless campaigner over many, many years for greater workers' rights in Wales, both in and, it's fair to say, out of Government and today, again, makes a powerful, compelling case for a living wage Wales, along with many other Members across this Chamber. Can I thank all Members today who have contributed to the debate, the discussion?

I think it's fair to say that there is ample evidence now in existence to show that more equal societies are most certainly more happy societies, more contented societies, and that employers that pay well tend to achieve higher productivity rates. And within the foundational economy, as we've heard, there is a particular issue with low wages, but it's also in the foundational economy that we see a higher proportion of women in employment, which, in turn, contributes to the gender pay gap that we tragically have in our society and must get to grips with. And that's why we are focusing more than ever on what we can do to support better wages and higher quality work in the foundational economy. It's why the Valleys taskforce work has centred greatly on the role of the foundational economy, and it's why the Welsh Government is happy to support the motion this afternoon, because making Wales a more equal nation, a nation where everybody has access to fair work that pays a living wage and where all workers can develop their skills and careers, is a fundamental objective of this Welsh Government. 

It's also why we developed the economic action plan and put, right at its heart, the new economic contract. And I firmly believe that now is the very best opportunity for us to implement such a radical policy, with unemployment and economic inactivity at historic low levels. Were unemployment to be significantly higher, it would be far more difficult to implement an economic contract that asks so much more of employers. And the contract sets out a very clear expectation that businesses should clearly demonstrate their commitment to fair work if they wish to access Welsh Government funding. Where organisations are receiving and spending public money, I think it's only right that we expect them to sign up to our code of practice on ethical employment—

Will you take an intervention?

I will in a moment, yes—on ethical employment in supply chains and do all that they can to make sure their own workers and the workers within the supply chain are employed fairly. And I'd like to give way to Helen Mary Jones.

Thank you very much, Cabinet Secretary. I'm wondering if, in those guidelines, you can include looking at how segregated the workforces are in companies, because we know that that is the basis—. While we carry on paying the men who fix our cars more than women who look after our children, we're still going to be stuck in this place. So, in the revised guidelines, could you perhaps take a look at how monitoring the segregation might work?

More than happy to do that because, as the Member said, it's more prevalent in certain industries and in certain sectors, and I'm pleased that we will be reviewing all of the guidelines, and I think that segregation is a key feature that we must take a closer look at. I'm also pleased to say that the work of the Fair Work Commission looking at the definition of fair work is reaching a conclusion. It will conclude in the spring of next year, and we'll be looking at how we can take this agenda further.

To support the implementation and adoption of the real living wage, we're going to look at options that include using our own powers and levers to achieve the goals that I think everybody has supported today in the wider workforce, and Professor Edmund Heery, the main author of the Cardiff University report that we have discussed today, is, I'm pleased to say, a member of that commission.

The code of practice on ethical employment in supply chains now includes a commitment to consider paying the living wage to all staff, and encouraging suppliers to do the same. So far, 150 organisations have now signed up to the code, including all of our police forces, health boards and universities; 14 local authorities have signed up and others are expected to do so soon; 84 private businesses in a wide range of sectors and 17 charities are also on board. It's a good start, but we wish to see that number rise dramatically. I think it's encouraging to hear about Cardiff council's ambition to be one of the UK's first living wage cities, and it's not only larger public bodies that are becoming accredited—Barry and Brecon town councils are also doing so, and that's a huge credit to them. 

I'm also pleased that the code of practice has been of great interest outside of Wales as well. For example, the UK director of labour market enforcement included a recommendation on the Welsh code in his last annual report. He could see the benefit of using public expenditure as a lever to address non-compliance with labour laws and minimum wages. So, I think that we are ahead of the rest of the UK in many respects and certainly in asking public bodies and smaller businesses and charities to publish anti-slavery statements as part of their commitment to this code. Only large businesses are obliged to do this under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. But, we shouldn't just look at wages in isolation from other aspects of fair and lawful work. This is something that Helen Mary Jones talked about in relation to sex discrimination, and it's also something that Julie Morgan touched on in relation to age discrimination, and, in particular, the challenge that many young people face.

We've covered a spectrum of practices in the code from criminal through unlawful, unethical and on to the positive practice of paying the living wage. There are no clear cut-offs between these categories, and the important thing is that we carry out more due diligence. If you don't know, for example, how workers are supplied in your supply chain, how do you know that no-one is being exploited? An organisation is not doing the right thing if it pays the living wage but funds this by cutting other benefits or by moving people to less secure contracts.

So, as I said earlier, there is undoubtedly more that we can do and more that we should do through the economic action plan and the code of practice. They represent, I think, a big departure from our previous approach to dealing with business. We're already committed to reviewing the effectiveness of the code early next year, and we've accepted the UK director of labour market enforcement's recommendation that we will review it. All of the code's commitments, including the one on the living wage, will be reviewed. We'll look at the impact it's already having and what is needed to promote it and to encourage organisations to follow through on their commitments. We'll also look at whether it needs to be strengthened in places, and we will do this in partnership with public sector employers, with businesses and with trade unions.

I'll be looking hard, if returned to this role, to where the economic contract can go next and which partner organisations we can ask to start using it, because it was always my intention when I penned the economic contract to roll it out eventually across all public, private and third sector organisations in receipt of public support, and to incorporate—subject to the recommendations, of course, of the Fair Work Commission—the living wage into the economic contract. A living wage Wales is not an aspiration, it's a destination that we will get to. I have no doubt that the commitment shown in this Chamber today will help us along the way. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Mick Antoniw, to reply to the debate.

Thank you, Llywydd. I'm grateful for the opportunity to sum up in this important debate. I welcome the contribution that everyone has made. Every contribution has been well intended and has been supportive of the concept, because it is a concept that flows so easily off the tongue when we talk about living wages. The reality is somewhat different, because where I do disagree is I don't think we really have come a very long way. In fact, I think we've been going backwards.

Living wage is one aspect. I much prefer the concept of Wales not a living wage nation but a fair work nation, because wages are one aspect of those components that provide the ability to have a decent standard of living. The fundamental principle that if someone works a full week's work they should be able to have a decent quality of living, a decent standard, to be able to go on holiday, to be able to go enjoy some of the social and cultural things in their lives—that clearly isn't the case at the moment.

I know, when Mark Isherwood spoke, he was being very well intended. I know he believes it from his heart. But, let's face it, the reality is that the Conservative Party have never believed in the concept of a real living wage. The cruellest con trick of all was to call the minimum wage a living wage when in fact it wasn't a living wage, so we then had to start engaging in that debate of demystifying it and saying, 'What we're talking about now is a real living wage, that is, a wage that enables you to live properly.'

When you look at the history, when you look at all the examples of what's happened recently, the spates of legislation that have discriminated and put restrictions on trade unions, where we know that the biggest cause of the restriction of the distribution of wealth amongst working people has been the diminution of collective bargaining—you can see that data all over Europe. The less collective bargaining there is, the greater the poverty, the greater the inequality that actually exists.

Let's look also at what the Tory agenda has been on every aspect of legislation where we've talked about quality of wages and quality of work. They opposed the Agricultural Sector (Wales) Act 2014 to protect farm workers. They opposed the Trade Union (Wales) Act 2017. They opposed the implementation at UK level of section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. They opposed the European Union social chapter. They opposed the inclusion of the European charter of fundamental rights. They have opposed, at UK level, a crackdown on the enforcement of the minimum wage. We have in Wales 19,000 people—estimated—who are not even being paid the minimum wage. Where are the 19,000 prosecutions to actually enforce that? And they've also brought in and then opposed themselves their own policy of bringing workers onto boards of directors of large companies so workers can have a say. 

What I'd much prefer is a move forward to the International Labour Organization definition of what is decent work, and this is their definition:

'Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives. It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.'

I believe we have to actually go much further than the sort of voluntary approach that's being adopted. Of course I welcome the work of the fair work commission, I welcome the work of the Living Wage Foundation and the positive results that have been achieved from that, but I'm very, very pleased that we now have a First Minister who is committed to actually legislating in this area, because I believe that is the only way forward—legislating for a social partnership Act, an Act that will actually provide a mechanism to ensure that our £6 billion of procurement only goes to those companies that are prepared to commit themselves to ethical standards, and that those companies that get that procurement then take the legal responsibility for the supply chain, all the way down, so you don't have the sub-contract system where everyone takes a cut of the profit and, at the end of the day, it's the workers who get less and less.

And I'm glad also that we have a First Minister who is now committed to the implementation of section 1 of the Equality Act. This is something that the Tories have refused to do at UK level. It has been implemented in Scotland and there is no reason at all why we should not now commit to the implementation of that, using procurement for socioeconomic objectives. And I'm very pleased that we now have a First Minister who is also committed to that. 

So, whilst I welcome this resolution, I welcome it as far as it goes, what I say is that it does not go far enough. We now have to move into the new will; that is, creating a specific right to decent and fair work, if you work within Wales. I want to see Wales become a fair work nation, not just a living wage nation or even a real living wage nation. There are so many factors to that. Of course there are restrictions, that's why we do need a Labour Government in Westminster and we need the sort of agenda now being promoted by John McDonnell to re-establish employment rights, but fundamental employment rights as at the core of business. Do we work for business purely to make profits, or do we actually work so that we can have a decent standard of living? The balance has gone wrong within our society and we have to restore that balance at UK level, but there is also much we can do at Wales level, and I very much look forward to a developing legislative agenda to actually do what we can within Wales to ensure that Wales becomes a fair work nation. Thank you. 

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.