6. Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:58 pm on 6 May 2020.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 5:58, 6 May 2020

Diolch, Llywydd. Yes, it's really great that we've got all these roundtables going on. In my opinion, it's fantastic that Gordon Brown, the architect of Sure Start, is involved in that. I'm absolutely delighted to be part of a party that has an ideological wish and drive to deliver social contracts and social partnerships—obviously an anathema to Mark Reckless.

But the questions that I have for you are very much focused on women's place in all of what we've seen. It's fairly obvious that women are the main deliverers of the social care. Most people will go out again tomorrow night and applaud that delivery, but what we must do is underpin that goodwill that currently does exist with a way of delivering care, wherever it's delivered, more equitably, and that means paying for it. So, we must start to have an honest conversation about how we're going to pay for care, going forward, and how we're going to sustain people with good wages and good terms and conditions within that workforce.

I'm going to keep on the same theme of being mindful of women, so I'm moving on now—