The next item is a statement by the First Minister: social partnership. I call on the First Minister, Mark Drakeford.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I wish to make a statement regarding the Welsh Government’s plans to develop and strengthen social partnership. Our partnership with the unions and employers is crucial to the way that we work as a Government. By coming together to discuss and collaborate, we solve problems and find solutions to the economic and social challenges currently facing Wales. This way of working is based on robust principles. It is a way of working that is effective and very relevant to current conditions.

Dirprwy Lywydd, throughout the devolution period, the Welsh approach to engagement with trade unions and employers has been defined by partnership. Indeed, our ability to navigate the global crisis of 2008, and the subsequent imposition of austerity, has been predicated on our model of social partnership, and the recognition that meaningful tripartite involvement is fundamental to delivering progressive outcomes and preventing conflict and dispute. A decade into unremitting public expenditure retrenchment, however, the present model has reached the limits of its effectiveness. The time has come to develop it still further in order to tackle the social and economic challenges facing Wales today.

These new advances will build firmly on the social partnership record across legislation, policy and investment. From restoring sectoral bargaining via the agricultural advisory panel, to introducing the code of practice on ethical employment in the supply chain, we have worked creatively to deliver more protection and a greater voice for working people in Wales. Earlier in this Assembly term, I was proud to take the landmark Trade Union (Wales) Bill through this National Assembly, rolling back UK legislation designed to strip away the rights of public service workers.

The ongoing nature of the challenges we face is well known. The growth of in-work poverty, false self-employment and compulsory zero-hours contracts have a corrosive effect on the health and well-being of too many people in Wales. What is more, these unfair practices serve only to deepen existing inequalities in our society, as those with the least power in the workplace are affected most. And, Dirprwy Lywydd, they sharply disadvantage those many socially responsible and committed businesses that find themselves at risk of unfair competition from less scrupulous employers.

These are challenges, moreover, that face us today find new forms in our own time. The advent of automation and digital platforms have proven how easily the burden of risk can be shifted onto workers without the protection afforded by conventional employment relationships, and how small businesses on the high street can find themselves undercut by tax-avoiding multinational organisations operating beyond our borders.

What, then, Dirprwy Lywydd, do we now plan to do? Well, firstly, we will put social partnership on a statutory footing by bringing forward a Bill in this Assembly term. That Bill will enshrine the current non-statutory social partnership model and ensure that the agreements reached are clearly enforceable. The Wales TUC have made some specific proposals about how best to deliver this, and we will discuss these proposals with the other social partners over the coming months.

Secondly, we will use the power of the public purse to deliver new social benefits through enhancing the return we receive from those who receive public funding from us via the economic contract. We will scale up best practice learned through the Better Jobs Closer to Home pilots, and we will embed fair work through public procurement and by taking forward our new and innovative approach to the foundational economy.

Thirdly, we will create an effective system of monitoring and enforcement. There are a number of existing agreements that have been reached in social partnership, such as the two tier code. While we have systems in place to monitor their implementation, we know that those systems can be improved, and we lack sufficient means of enforcement when breaches of those codes occur.

Fourthly, we will put in place new machinery of government to underpin the work of social partners. We will implement the recommendations of the Fair Work Commission to establish an office for fair work. The practical plans to set up a directorate within the civil service are already in place, with the head of that unit already out to advert.

And fifthly, we will enact Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010, the socioeconomic duty. We will take the steps required to commence the duty, including new guidance that will be needed to ensure that its implementation is effective and takes full account of the existing Welsh legislative context. We will draw together the relationship between the socioeconomic duty and the social partnership Bill. Both will help to address inequality from different perspectives, and we will ensure that they fully complement each other.

What, then, Dirprwy Lywydd, will all these actions deliver? Well, firstly, they are designed to reverse the decline in collective bargaining. The International Labour Organization, amongst others, has clearly articulated the role that collective bargaining plays in reducing inequality and extending labour protection. We fully endorse the principles set out by the ILO on collective bargaining and freedom of association, and we wish to see these benefits extended to more working people here in Wales.

Secondly, these actions will deliver practical improvements in the workplace. Today, the Minister for Housing and Local Government has issued the Government’s response to the recommendations from the Fair Work Commission. The commission has focused directly on the role of trade unions in the workplace, and the benefits that this can bring to workers. Our approach to fair work will mean new approaches and new actions to drive up the quality of work and access to employment rights.

Thirdly, these actions will bring better outcomes for employers. Because with a committed workforce, encouraged by employers who invest in skills and good management at all levels, we can build a stronger and more resilient economy, with improved productivity, which is fit for the challenges of the future. Social partnership, Dirprwy Lywydd, enables employers to be active partners in changing our economy for the better. And we are fortunate in having many employers here in Wales committed to playing just that part.

Finally, these actions will bring the social partners together in a system that is streamlined, purposeful, and has the powers it needs to translate agreements reached into actions on the ground. By providing the means of monitoring any agreements, we will secure trust and confidence that the investment that partners make leads to tangible outcomes that deliver benefits for all.

Tomorrow, Dirprwy Lywydd, I will chair a meeting that brings together members of the Government, the Workforce Partnership Council executive, and the social partners strategy group. This shadow social partnership council will encourage social partners to engage on the immediate steps we need to take to deliver on the commitments I have outlined this afternoon. That will include discussion of a shared protocol that describes the expectations for Welsh Government, the Wales TUC, and employers on how our engagement will work in practice.

Now, Dirprwy Lywydd, none of this will be easy. Social partnership is the opposite of the confrontational approaches preferred by the Conservative Party whenever they are in Government. But it is also the opposite of problem-avoiding cosiness as well. To succeed in making working life fairer, it requires all partners to be focused on innovation and negotiation. It puts trust, engagement and dialogue at the heart of problem solving—together, the problems that face us all, are best addressed. It is a way, moreover, rooted in both the long collective and co-operative history of Wales and the history we have written here in the far shorter era of devolution. It is an approach, Dirprwy Lywydd, which this Government is determined to strengthen still further and to make it fit for the challenges that the future will provide. 

Can I thank you, First Minister, for your statement? And I look forward to further scrutinising the details of your proposals in the coming months. However, I must say, from the outset, that I am very disappointed that you have chosen to politicise this statement and to suggest that Conservatives, whenever they are in Government, take a confrontational approach. That is not right, because, as a Conservative, I very much agree with you that these issues should be approached in a collaborative way. I believe I speak, though, on behalf of all businesses who are disappointed by what you had to say today who have undertaken this collaborative approach, and will probably now feel more pressure to comply with these plans.

Now, the businesses I've spoken to believe this voluntary approach has worked over the years, and indeed is working. Now, as you know, the 'Good Work Plan' already commits to ensuring that workers can receive fair and decent work, and I understand legislation will be brought forward at a UK level to provide workers with the right to request more stable contracts. Now, in your statement today, First Minister, you make it clear the present model of a voluntary social partnership has reached the limit of its effectiveness. Are you saying that this model has, therefore, failed, given that this has been the policy of successive Welsh Labour Governments over the last 20 years? I'm sure successive Welsh Governments would disagree with you on that.

First Minister, I'm sure you will agree with me that this approach needs much more work, and therefore shouldn't be just rushed through this Parliament. Now, whether we like it or not, 43,000 people are currently employed on zero-hours contracts, and, of course, the effects of the social partnership Act should be carefully considered through a consultation, in my view, as should all aspects of the effects that the Act will have on both Welsh workers and businesses. Surely only when a comprehensive consultation is completed and reported back to the Assembly should it then decide on the most appropriate course of action, rather than just first legislating for a Bill that has not yet been consulted upon with those that it would impact the most. Will you, therefore, First Minister, commit to holding a comprehensive consultation with all stakeholders so that everyone's views are actually taken into consideration? And if you don't commit to this, what steps will you be taking in order to ensure that trade unions act in the interests of their members, that business organisations act in the interests of their members, and that the public voice is heard loud and clear as well? 

Now, I appreciate people will have different views on zero-hours contracts and the effect this can have on working people. And you will be aware, First Minister, that the Taylor review of modern working practices reports that one fifth of people on zero-hours contracts are in full-time education. And, apparently, 68 per cent of those on such contracts do not want more hours. Therefore, it's crucial, I think, that we continue to create opportunity for flexible employment for those who want it. Can you therefore outline how this proposed social partnership Act will continue to allow for flexible employment for those who rely on flexible employment, but at the same time still protecting workers' rights? I'd be grateful if you would perhaps expand on this, because I agree that we must deal with less scrupulous employers, but we must also ensure a flexible economy going forward as well. 

First Minister, the Minister for Housing and Local Government's written statement this morning said that the new social partnership and fair work directorate will be positioned within the office of the First Minister and Brexit. However, the report recommends that the office of fair work not be positioned within a particular department. Will this mean, therefore, that you, as First Minister, will have direct control over the establishment and direction of that directorate? And how will you ensure that this new department will actually operate across the whole of Government, given that it will actually be located under you? 

So, with that, Deputy Presiding Officer, can I thank you, First Minister for your statement this afternoon? I and my colleagues look forward to scrutinising your plans further over the coming weeks and over the coming months.

I thank Paul Davies for that constructive response to this afternoon's statement. I'm afraid, I think, that the record speaks for itself. When I was the health Minister here in this Assembly, doctors went on strike in the English NHS, nurses went on strike, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, porters were on strike. Not a single one of those occupations went on strike here in Wales and that's because we have a different approach. It's not an accident that, across our border, those dedicated public servants and professional workers went on strike, whereas here in Wales we were able to avoid it. It's because we have a social partnership approach and, across our border, where the Conservative Party is in charge, they do not.

I was very keen, Dirprwy Lywydd, in what I said to emphasise the contributions that employers in Wales have made to the social partnership agenda, of the positive way in which they come to the table, and that is absolutely the way in which we intend to craft our proposals here in Wales. When I said that we had reached the limits of our current arrangements, it is because I believe we have made the very most of them, not because they are not working, but because they are working flat out and working as fast as they can within the current parameters. It's why we want to strengthen the current arrangements by putting the force of statute around them. And when Paul Davies says that, like it or not, we have zero-hours contracts, it won't take a careful or comprehensive consideration for us on this side of the Chamber to know that we don't like zero-hours contracts, but the way that we have approached it is the one we have adopted in relation to social care and the legislation we've passed here in this Assembly. There we have recognised that there are reasons why, as trade unions have recognised, a period of 12 weeks, an introductory period when someone is deciding whether or not they want to continue in that occupation, and when employers are gauging the level of skill and capacity that somebody has—12 weeks can be organised on a zero-hours basis, but then the employee must be offered a fixed term, fixed-hours contract. They can choose to remain on a zero-hours contract if that's what suits their circumstances the best, but they have the choice; they are not kept on a compulsory zero-hours contract basis.

But more generally, of course, I give the Member a commitment that there will be careful and comprehensive consideration of the proposals we bring forward, that they will be developed in a spirit of social partnership by making sure that all of those who have an interest in the proposals will have an opportunity to consider them, to shape them, and then they will be debated and scrutinised on the floor of the National Assembly.

And, finally, to assure the Member as well that the decision to place the directorate for social partnership and fair work in the First Minister's office was a direct response to the recommendation of the Fair Work Commission that it shouldn't be placed in a particular department. It is indeed, as Paul Davies said, an essentially cross-cutting agenda, and putting that office or directorate in my office is a way of making that cross-cutting nature explicit and effective.

I welcome the statement and the general framework that the First Minister has set out. I’d be interested to hear from the First Minister, in developing this model of social partnership, what other models across Europe or even further afield the Government has looked at. Of course, we classically are very familiar with the model of social partnership in Germany, for example, and in Scandinavia, in Ireland too—until the financial crisis at least. What’s interesting, I think, about those examples, is that they all contributed towards economic prosperity. There is some sort of sub-context in the criticism of social partnership that it somehow leads to inefficiency. Well, the opposite is true in those cases. To what extent would the Welsh Government consider commissioning research that would look at this question at an individual company level in terms of the productivity and economic success of individual companies that do recognise unions as opposed to those who don’t? Because there is some broader academic evidence that would suggest that, and I do think it would be useful, as we build this framework for Wales, for us to demonstrate that there is an evidence base to the argument that it is beneficial at the bottom-line level for companies, because it does create a workforce that is motivated—there is more investment in training, there is less absence from the workplace, and so on and so forth.

And just one brief question on the timetable: does the Government intend to introduce this legislation and this framework within this term? And, finally, one of the fairer criticisms, perhaps, made of the social partnership model in recent times is that is there a risk, in focusing on employers, unions and Government, that you fall into a corporatist trap and that you exclude other elements of society that perhaps aren’t reflected in those structures? Is there scope to ensure that this partnership is all-inclusive and that it does look at the question of social inequality and injustice in its broader context—the broadest context, in fact—not just in the workplace?

Thank you, Adam Price, for your contribution this afternoon. What Adam said was correct, of course. What we’re suggesting here in Wales are things that do happen overseas in other nations every day. I was speaking in FMQs this afternoon about the community bank, and of course that’s part of what other people do on a daily basis. So, what we’re doing is drawing upon other good examples, in Germany and in the Basque Country as well. There’s a group of people from the Basque Country, from the Government there, in Wales today. I’m going to meet them tomorrow, and that’s happening after I and other Ministers have gone to the Basque Country to hear from them about how they do things, and the prosperity of their economy and how we can learn from the lessons that are available in other nations.

And, of course, what Adam Price was saying about research is also true. There is a great deal of research available in this field. I referred to the ILO, and work is being done by the World Bank on this as well, and a great deal of work has gone on in the academic sphere as well. The first step, I think, is to draw together the information that we have at present, to share that with the partnerships and to see whether they think that there are gaps in the research that we currently have, and whether there is a case to fill those gaps. I’m very happy to confirm that the Bill will be brought before the Assembly in this term, and I very much look forward to the scrutiny process. I’ve heard what Adam Price said about the number of people around the table when we create a new system, and there will be an opportunity for me tomorrow, in the meeting that I have with the unions, and with employers as well, to put that point to them as well.

Thank you, First Minister, for the statement. It'll come as no surprise to you that I'm fully supportive of your commitment to embed social partnership working here in Wales through legislation. I've seen at first hand the benefit of social partnership, for example, in delivering the living wage to the NHS in Wales, and, as you mentioned earlier in responding to Paul Davies, the way in which we were able to avoid the types of industrial disputes here that we have seen played out in England. Of course, anything in my view that encourages people to join a trade union can only be a good thing, because we know that unionised workplaces are safer workplaces and they are better paid workplaces and legislating to expand that can only be positive as well. 

Social partnership is without doubt vital in helping us to deal with the problems of the things that you mentioned in your statement, First Minister—insecure work and in-work poverty—but also facing the economic and social changes that we know lie ahead, much of which is going to be out of our control. So, my specific questions are whether you would agree that the social partnership Act must provide a secure footing for both the nature and the structure of how we work collectively in Wales, and can you confirm that you expect our trade union colleagues to be equal partners, in order to address the current social imbalance.

I thank Dawn Bowden for those questions. When I said in my original statement that I sometimes say on public platforms that social partnership is not an easy way of doing things, it's often Dawn's name that comes into my mind, having worked with her when I was health Minister and she represented Unison. I can tell you that those meetings are the opposite of cosy or collusive, but they do the hard work, and that's what you expect them to do. They are places where difficult conversations are had and messages are never pulled by those who deliver them, but they are delivered in a way that has the end point of creating an agreement, sometimes over very challenging issues, which everybody in the end is able to sign up to. I thank her both for that previous experience and for the way that she contributes to this Assembly from that experience.

Of course, the Fair Work Commission's report draws on the work of the IMF, of the World Bank, of the ILO. They all say the same thing, that collective bargaining is good for workers, employers and the economy. That's why we want to see collective bargaining extended here in Wales. Collective bargaining leads to a fairer sharing of the economy between workers and others, and fairer economies do better. It's no surprise, is it, that more equal economies do better, because they draw on a wider pool of talent as a result. That's the purpose behind our social partnership Bill: it is to make sure that the contribution of all those who help to make Wales a more prosperous place can be properly captured and put to work. The partnership structures will be reformed to support that. The Bill will define the nature of social partnership here in Wales. And, to answer Dawn Bowden's final point, of course, all those who come to the table come there as equal partners, all with something different to contribute, each with an equal value in that contribution.

Could I thank the First Minister for his statement and also for the advance copy, and also say how refreshing it is to see how many of his ministerial statements he stays for? It's not something I ever recall having seen at Westminster. I've got three areas I wanted to ask him about here. The references—. He started by praising our model of social partnership and made quite a lot of references to trade unions and the TUC, I thought rather fewer references to business and their representative organisations—I just wonder if that's something he'll look to rectify in the future. Also, more broadly, does he see Welsh Government's role as a facilitator for both the trade unions and business or primarily as a Labour Government as a supporter of the trade unions within that context? When he talks about delivering new social good through enhancing the ask of those who receive public funding via the economic contract, through public procurement—the economic contract, is that something that applies to public procurement generally, or only to a particular proportion of it? And I wonder what steps the Welsh Government will take to see if there's any impact on value for money in pursuing things in this way. Clearly, sometimes, if someone doesn't do the various things he would want, and I'm sure that many of these are social goods that we would support, would they be excluded from the contracts? And if you were to have fewer people bidding for contracts within the scope of this, is that something that could increase costs, at least over the medium term?

Finally, around enacting Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010, the First Minister says, 

'We will draw together the relationship between the socioeconomic duty and the social partnership Bill.'

I'm just wondering, are they distinct things? Will the social partnership Bill commence the duty or, when he refers to the steps required to commence this duty, are they different? Does the Westminster legislation give powers to Welsh Ministers to commence where UK Ministers are not commencing this in England? It refers to Part 1 of the Equality Act, but I also just recall during its passage a reference to this being arguably socialism in one clause. Is that what this refers to and is that why the First Minister is leading in this area in the way he has announced today?

I thank Mark Reckless for those questions. I tried in my statement to cover a lot of ground, and I tried to make sure that I paid proper regard to the contribution that businesses, both public sector employers and private sector employers, have made to the development of social partnership here in Wales. It was very pleasing to see the welcome that both the Confederation of British Industry and the Federation of Small Businesses gave to the report of the Fair Work Commission, and my view is that businesses are equal partners around that table. And they're equal partners with Government as well. I don't see Government as a facilitator in the way that Mark Reckless suggested; Government is a partner in a tripartite arrangement. Government is there, trade unions are there, employers are there, and we come together with our different responsibilities and our different capacities to act to focus on problems that are shared between us and where our collective focus on them can lead to best outcomes. 

Of course, we do want more return on the investment that the Welsh taxpayer makes in building the Welsh economy. We are very keen to go on as a Government investing in the Welsh economy, investing in skills, investing in infrastructure, investing in assisting individual businesses, where there is a case to do so. But, in return, it is right that when the Welsh taxpayer is making that contribution, that it is able to say to those who benefit from that contribution that, for example, we look to them to provide proper occupational health facilities for people who work for them. We look to them to invest in the continuing skills of that workforce. We look to them to respond to the call that is often made around this Chamber to ensure that the mental health and well-being of people who work in those sectors is taken care of as well. All of those are public goods, all of those are objectives, I think, widely shared across the Chamber and, where Welsh public money is being spent, we think we have a right to ask that it delivers on those wider agendas as well.

When things are not delivered, does that mean that organisations are excluded from bidding for contracts? Well, it depends on what is going wrong. If companies act outside the law, by blacklisting, for example, then they cannot expect that they will get contracts from the public purse. When it is that a company is working hard to reach a point in an agreement that we have struck with them but they're not yet at that point in, for example, having an occupational health service, well, of course, that would not exclude a company from participating or bidding for a contract. So it depends on the nature of the issue at hand.

I'm very grateful to the Member for his description of Part 1 of the Equality Act as 'socialism in one clause'; it encourages me no end to make sure that we get it and the Bill in front of the Assembly. We are still working, to answer Mark Reckless's specific question, on the best way to commence it. It may be through the Bill, it may be that we can do it more rapidly, but your recollection of 'socialism in one clause' encourages me to bring it in front of the Assembly as fast as possible. 

The statement has described many of the challenges facing us in Blaenau Gwent, from low wages, insecure work to difficulties facing the high street and employers and others. I hope that what you're able to do in taking this forward is to address those issues of in-work poverty that do affect Blaenau Gwent. All too often we see press releases from various places telling us about the work that's being created without ever describing what that work is, and the impact it has on families and the wider economy. So, I hope that we will be able to use this statement and this piece of legislation to address issues such as in-work poverty.

I hope also, First Minister, in seeking to describe the solutions, we will look for collective and co-operative solutions as well. I know that the Deputy Minister Lee Waters has placed a great emphasis on the foundational economy and how we deliver a co-operative approach to these matters in his work, particularly with the Valleys taskforce. I'm very supportive of that, and I hope that we will be able therefore to use the legislation here to drive forward a greater emphasis on the co-operative solutions.

First Minister, you'll also be aware that the Lisbon treaty, of course, recognises social partnership in the European Union, and that has been used to drive forward a way that the European Union has ensured that social partners are always represented in decision making across the union. I hope that the Welsh Government will look at the Lisbon treaty, and look at how that can be used as a model for delivering social partnership in Wales today. I hope also, First Minister, that we'll be able to look at this in terms of the shared prosperity fund, so that social partnership is hard wired into that. 

First Minister, we can make the legal changes and we can change the statutory framework, but you will, I'm sure, agree with me that real change comes from cultural change, and I'd be grateful if you could outline how you believe that this statutory change—the changes to the legal underpinning of what we do—can be used to drive forward a cultural change across the whole of our economy and public sector. 

My final question to you is this, First Minister: in many ways, what you're describing is a Welsh Labour, socialist approach to globalisation and the impact of globalisation on our local economies. We've seen from the xenophobia of the Brexit Party and others that there are very different responses to the impact of globalisation on people and communities. I hope that through our partnership with trade unions and through working together on a co-operative basis we can deliver the change that you describe, and radical reform throughout the whole of the public sector.

Let me begin by saying that the creation of a more equal Wales is one of the fundamental goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and that the pursuit of a more equal nation is at the heart of everything that this Government does, and that will be true of the social partnership work as well, for the very reasons that Alun Davies articulated about his own constituency. I was very pleased recently to meet the co-operative group of Assembly Members here. There were a series of very practical ideas that came very rapidly out of that meeting, and will certainly help us to form our future thinking and be part of that wider social partnership agenda.

It's not a surprise, Dirprwy Lywydd, is it, that when we set up an all-Wales programme monitoring committee for European funds here in Wales, currently chaired by Huw Irranca-Davies, that that sense of social partnership comes very naturally to us here in Wales? All the players who have an interest in making a success of European funding around the table together, and our partners who come from the European Union to work with us, to observe what we are doing, to share their experiences and ours, they are equally at home in that way of doing things. And that's because, as Alun Davies said, globalisation demands a local response. And if you're going to give people confidence that they have a place in this globalised world, that their futures lie to an extent in their own hands, then strengthening workers' rights, strengthening social protections—they build up the confidence that then leads to those cultural shifts. And I think we have a great deal of that already in place in the social partnership experience we have built up in Wales. The Bill and the other actions that I've outlined this afternoon are designed to take that further forward, put the confidence of the law underneath it and, in that way, to craft responses that reach far into the lives of people here in Wales and, most of all, into the lives of residents of places like Blaenau Gwent, where the need for those social protections and the need for that social partnership are more urgent than ever.

Thank you, First Minister. I was very pleased to welcome your statement today and especially the mention of policies like the economic contract, Better Jobs Closer to Home and the foundational economy. All of these offer a very different model for economic development and can improve conditions for Welsh workers.

I'd like to build on the comments made by my colleague Alun Davies about the need for cultural change, and it seems to me that one of the key cultural changes we need in order to make this social partnership really work is to get more Welsh workers to join trade unions, and I say that as a very proud member of two excellent unions, both the GMB and USDAW. Looking at some stats, I can see that just over 30 per cent of Welsh workers are currently members of trade unions, which seemed quite low to me but is actually higher than all of the UK bar Northern Ireland, and in 2018 Wales had one of the greatest increases in its unionised workforce, which is obviously good news. But what I'd like to ask is what more the Welsh Government can do to encourage trade union membership.

I also welcome your mention of further steps to create an office for fair work, and I'd be interested to know what sort of mechanisms will be in place to allow it to drive change and to tackle unfair working practices.

Like other AMs, I received a copy of Oxfam's supermarket scorecard recently, which evaluates how supermarkets take action to end human suffering in their global supply chains. With your statement's focus on tackling exploitative working practices, how can these wider concerns be built into our social partnership policies to reflect our international obligations? Finally, I didn't hear any mention of the well-being of future generations Act in your statement, so I would like to ask how that interacts with the Welsh Government's ambitious social partnership priorities.

Dirprwy Lywydd, thank you very much to Vikki Howells for those questions. She is a member of the fastest growing trade union in the United Kingdom, if she is a member of USDAW. And that's very important, isn't it, because we are used in Wales to having high densities of trade union membership in public services and public sector settings, but USDAW is a trade union that operates in the sector that she mentioned, in the retail sector, in shops where the Oxfam report focused its attention. I've been very pleased with many others here to be part of campaigns that USDAW has run, both locally in constituencies and nationally, and it's succeeded in being a growing trade union because it goes about its business in a new way. It relies on persuading people of the direct benefits that trade union membership brings to them and then the collective advantages that they get from working together. I know that there are some important lessons for the wider trade union movement, which the TUC nationally has been keen to draw on.

And, of course, there are many other ways in which, as a Government and as individuals, we are able to support that effort. I know many colleagues here will have taken part in the young workers campaign, run by Unison, which was here in the Assembly only a week or two ago and which aims to do the same thing for new workers—young people coming into industry and into public services—and again to explain to them and to recruit them into the advantages that union membership brings.

As far as the directorate we are establishing is concerned, I was keen that it should be in the First Minister's office for the reasons I outlined earlier, that it should have sufficient seniority at its head, but that it should operate as well with a significant number of secondees who come into its work directly from the trade union movement and directly from employers as well. If this is a directorate about social partnership, it needs to operate on a social partnership basis, and that means having the Welsh Government there, but it also means having the direct participation of people from that wider world. We're already talking to both the Wales TUC and to employer organisations about them finding the right people to come and work with us on this agenda.

And, finally, Dirprwy Lywydd, I didn't mention the well-being of future generations Act in the statement itself, but I did mention making sure that what we do fits into the wider legislative landscape. It was the well-being of future generations Act I had in mind, and I had it in mind in the way that I responded to Alun Davies—that at the heart of the Act is, as one of its seven goals, that creation of a more equal Wales. That is the ambition that drives social partnership here in Wales and drives our ambition to bring forward a Bill for this Assembly's consideration.

Thank you very much, First Minister.