Thank you, Presiding Officer. I've given a minute to Dawn Bowden in this debate. This is about in-work poverty. The state of the Welsh economy, poverty and low pay are all interrelated.

A successful Welsh economy should drive up wages and reduce poverty. Too many of the people living in Wales are employed on 'flexible'—which I call 'exploitative'—contracts, with no guarantee of weekly income based on variable hours and the Government-set minimum wage. Whilst much of the recent debate has been on zero-hours contracts, unfortunately this is not the only 'flexible' employment practice used by employers. Other flexible employment practices include short guaranteed hours, split shifts, annualised hours and using agency staff. As well as the traditional short-term and temporary contracts, there has been a growth in the number of these new employment practices.

Increasing numbers of companies are taking on staff on zero-hours contracts, where people agree to be available for work as and when required, but have no guaranteed hours or times of work. Zero-hours contracts provide employers with a pool of people who are on call, and that puts all the financial risk on the employee whose income is not guaranteed. This is an example of the old 'waiting outside the docks to be called', except now you wait at home for a text message.

A variation on zero-hours contracts is where there is a guarantee of as little as one hour a day, and when people arrive at work they then discover how long the shift is going to be. Starting at 8 a.m., you may finish at 9.00 a.m. or have to work until late in the evening, possible 9.00 p.m., depending on the workload and the number of people who are available that day. This is a highly disruptive work pattern because you are unable to make plans for any part of the day until the day itself, and also wages vary from week to week. One concern is that if zero-hours contracts get banned, this will be their replacement, and far too many people—they go in, they start work, and then they discover when they're going to be going home. But if you're looking after children or you've got caring responsibilities for parents or other people, it makes life incredibly difficult when you've got no guarantee of hours. When I came in this morning, I knew I was going to leave here about 7.30 p.m., and when I come in tomorrow I know I'm going to leave here at about 1.30 p.m. Too many people, they come into work and they've got no idea when they're going to be going home. It just completely disrupts their lives.