3. Will the First Minister make a statement on progress towards creating a feminist government in Wales? OAQ53882

I want to thank the Member for that question. On International Women’s Day, Jane Hutt set out our ambition for gender equality in Wales, focused on equality of outcome for all. The statement was developed as part of a gender equality review, of course, initiated by Carwyn Jones in March 2018.

I welcome that gentleman's initiative. Thank you for that, First Minister. Could I ask you to outline what further changes you think will be needed in the future to realise our shared ambition of true equality in Wales? 

I thank Carwyn for that supplementary. He's absolutely right; it is the core ambition of this Government to create a more equal Wales. Llywydd, I'll mention just three brief ways in which those future changes will be shaped.

First of all, I know that the Member will have seen the report of the fair work commission—another initiative that was set in motion by him. He'll have seen its excellent report. He'll know that Julie James has already accepted the six key proposals of that report, and we've had discussions during last week and this as to how we will establish a fair work office inside the Government here in Wales to take forward that agenda.

Secondly, as the Member knows, phase 2 of the gender equality review is expected in July of this year. It will provide both a report and a road map. And that road map is really important in the way that the former First Minister said, in giving us a sense of those changes that will be needed to secure that more equal Wales.

And thirdly, Llywydd, as Members will know, we have made a commitment to enact Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010—the socio-economic duty—because, in the end, it is people's relationship to the economy that gives them the most fundamental chances in life, and this is a Government determined that people in Wales will have those chances fairly and equally across the whole of our nation.

I have to say, I think it's pretty brave of the former First Minister to raise this question. At the point of his departure, the gender pay gap within Government had gone up yet again and, of course, Chwarae Teg's—what can I call it—assessment of the work that he had done in the eight years of being in charge was this: current legislation and frameworks, such as the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, the gender equality duties, and the duty to have due regard to equality, which was in the Government of Wales Act 2006—

'should ensure that consideration of gender, and equality more broadly, is embedded at the heart of policy and decision-making. However, this framework is having limited impact so far, due to integration and implementation challenges.' 

I heard what you said about what's happening within Government, but implementation matters when it comes to policy, and I want to know what your vision is for this. Actually, I want to know what steps you're taking to make sure that all good intentions that find themselves coming forward to legislation and policy actually happen and have the outcomes that you're intending them to have.

Llywydd, the Member will welcome, I'm sure, the fact that the latest figures on the gender pay gap show that it is falling, not rising, in Wales. It fell from 16 per cent in 2016 to 15 per cent in 2017 to 14 per cent in 2018. Much too big, of course, but, unlike the way in which her question began, those figures are heading in the right direction and I know that she'll be keen to support them falling further and faster still. 

She asked for some specifics, things that we want to make sure that we see happen here in Wales. Again, I'm sure she will welcome the fact that the Welsh Government provides paid leave for victims of domestic abuse, as initiated by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, and that we are taking steps to make sure that that entitlement is better known and better advertised amongst staff, and that we are discussing it with our trade union colleagues because we want to make sure that, beyond the Assembly, that paid leave is available more widely in our public services.

And we want to go beyond that as well, so we will be discussing with our social partners ways in which other forms of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence are recognised in the workplace, that managers are properly trained to be able to recognise the signs, that they know how they are able to signpost people to get the help that they need, and that the costs involved in all of that are recognised by employers here in Wales as part of our effort to create that more equal Wales that the former First Minister mentioned in his first question.