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.