3. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government: The Fair Work Commission's Report

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 7 May 2019.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 3:24, 7 May 2019

Well, I'm more than happy to make that commitment, because that is exactly what we said: we wanted to see what the Fair Work Commission said. In developing our response to the Fair Work Commission's report on social partnership, I'll be very pleased to make the commitment that we will respond in detail to your committee's report. You're absolutely right in pointing out that it's really pleasing to see the read-across between them. We are indeed on the same page, so to speak, so I'm very happy to make that commitment. We can make sure that we take into account all the evidence that the committee took into account as well in working up our conference in June, which I hope you'll be able to be a part of.

Because we're almost saying trusims here. It's quite clearly obvious to me, anyway—and actually, from what Mark Isherwood said, across the Chamber, so far—that you should be able to earn enough money in your place of work that you don't need any kind of Government benefit, otherwise, the work that you're doing clearly isn't fairly remunerated and you're unlikely to have a secure place of work. That does not contribute to any of the things that we hold dear—family or community cohesion, economic growth, proper career structures in Government and so on. But also, from the business point of view, it doesn't contribute to them being a viable and economic entity likely to grow. If you're not able to pay your employees a fair remuneration, you're unlikely to have a good business plan in place that allows your business to grow properly. These are the flip sides of the same coin and we really do need to be able to help our businesses get to the point where they see that.

And that's why I'm so pleased that we're taking this forward in social partnership. And our social partners very much take that on board. So, there's been no disagreement here. And as we develop our response to the recommendations in detail, I'm not anticipating that we will have any kick-back from that. We need to take our employers with us along this journey, so that they too can turn into the vibrant, viable businesses that we need to make our workers have secure and economically fair jobs.