Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:16 pm on 26 March 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:16, 26 March 2019

I disagree with the Member that the sort of jobs we are talking about are not highly skilled. I think it's one of the things that bedevils the UK Government's migration policy—this attempt to divide people into people with high skills and low skills. People who work in social care have very high skills indeed, and they are often very well trained, and the work that we are doing across the Government to make sure that we invest in the future of that workforce—to register it, to provide the training that they need—will have the effect of raising the skill levels in that profession. And as we do that, so too we are determined to make sure that people who do those jobs are properly remunerated for the work that they do. So, I don't agree with that basic proposition—that by focusing on these really important sectors, we end up in the trap that the Member refers to. In fact, our determination is to do exactly the opposite.