Living-wage Accreditations

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 3 July 2019.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 1:55, 3 July 2019

My remit letter of 2019-20 to HEFCW sets out my expectation that I will receive confirmation this year that all Welsh universities will have received formally their accreditation. And I have looked, wherever I can within my department, to make progress in this regard. So, for instance, the staff of the Student Loans Company that operate the student loan system on behalf of Welsh Government out of offices in Llandudno Junction—we've also been able to negotiate with the Student Loans Company an increase to ensure that all staff there are on the real living wage and are on salaries that are more aligned with Welsh Government officials, who actually happen to be working in the same building. Enabling us to do this addresses some of the issues of recruitment and retention of those staff, so that's just another example of what we're trying to do within education to ensure that, if you're part of the national mission, in whichever way you're part of the national mission, you will be rewarded fairly.