8. United Kingdom Independence Party Debate: Home Working

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:17 pm on 8 May 2019.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 5:17, 8 May 2019

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Now, as I said during my statement on fair work yesterday, we want Wales to be a place where everyone can access work that is decent and life enhancing, free of exploitation and poverty and where people have the opportunity to develop their skills and to progress. We are committed to delivering inclusive economic growth in Wales. We want thriving businesses, with workers benefiting through fair and secure, well-rewarded employment.

Social partnership provides a mechanism to help deliver this objective. Through involving Government, unions and businesses in decisions that help shape the working environment at both local and national level, we can work together to deliver a fairer economy. Welsh Government is fully committed to those objectives of social partnership. Working alongside the trade unions, we have taken a lead in the UK, promoting the importance of job security, decent pay and working conditions. The challenges we face mean we have to strengthen our social partnership model further, putting equality at its heart. We are committed to legislating, therefore, to put social partnership on that statutory footing we discussed only yesterday during my statement.

Alongside this work, the Welsh Government is promoting flexible working and other fair employment practices, doing this through our economic contract, the employability plan and the code of practice on ethical employment in supply chains by way of example. The Business Wales website provides information to employers on how to improve productivity through flexible working arrangements, and the Fair Work Commission was set up to advise us on what more we can do. It has completed its work and, as I said only yesterday during my statement, the report has been published and we will respond shortly.

The Fair Work Commission's call for evidence provided a prime opportunity for the Welsh public sector, the private sector and individuals across Wales to promote and provide views on fair work, including flexible working practices, and it is, as Russell George pointed out, very important to balance what is right for individuals as well as employers and businesses. Employee well-being, I agree with you entirely, is paramount, and Welsh Government is committed to ensuring fair and ethical working practices, while protecting the rights and responsibilities of individuals employed as well. Our economic contract, which is set out in our economic action plan, presents our opportunity to engage in dialogue with employers on issues that have the potential to support individuals as well as their businesses. It requires businesses seeking direct financial support to commit to a range of criteria, including fair work and the promotion of health, upskilling and learning in the workplace, and that includes promoting the adoption of flexible—or modern, as they're called, actually—working practices. All companies applying for direct business grant support from Welsh Government will need to demonstrate that they are committed to that fair work and to promoting health in the workplace—and by workplace, I of course also mean people's homes, if that is, in part, their workplace.