When we first published our findings, way back in February, no-one could have foreseen how the emerging pandemic would rip through the economy, nor how our perception and appreciation of employment would shift, and key workers in foundational sectors on the front line. They were the people who couldn't work from home. They were part of the economy that couldn't be shut down. They were delivering essential goods and services that kept the clogs in everyday life turning when so much else ground to a halt—in our food shops, childcare facilities, construction sites and so on. And yet, they are often on the lowest wage. So, now, more than ever, and going forward, public procurement must be used as a catalyst for change, to help build community wealth and resilience through strong, local supply chains.

Other Members have spoken about what 'local' does and what 'local' means, and I'm not going to repeat those points, but I do look forward to the Minister's reply. I'm going to focus here on childcare, and I'm also going to refocus the debate around the social model and the respectability and the pay scales that people should have, and how that has to be built into local procurement. This wasn't prominent in our inquiry, but, as I said, the pandemic has reshaped the debate and childcare is part of that debate. The primary role of public procurement is to secure goods and services for all citizens—and this is the important part—in a socially responsible way, and if we didn't already appreciate it, the pandemic has revealed just how vital a public good childcare is, as essential as our physical and telecommunications infrastructure.

In August, the Welsh Government allocated £4 million to the childcare provider grant, and that helped more nurseries to stay open. In the same month, a survey by the Social Mobility Commission found that one in eight childcare workers in the UK earns less than £5 an hour, and that the average hourly wage in the sector is £7.42, and that is less, of course, than the living wage of £8.72. But if you contrast that, even though those nursery staff are among the lowest-paid workers, UK parents still face the highest childcare costs in the OECD, spending on average a third of their earnings on childcare. So, if procurement does anything, it has to level up those inconsistencies. At the same time, many families will have felt the sting of paying those nursery fees upfront only for their children to miss days or weeks whilst self-isolating or waiting for coronavirus test results. So, of course the Welsh Government's childcare offer is a lifeline for families across Wales, and that UK average is just that: Wales's policy is much more generous than other parts of the UK.

But, going forward and looking at what is important within a community, procurement clearly has to look at the wider experience of those people delivering the services for which the Welsh pound is spent on, and it must absolutely ensure equality within that stream when it comes to the pay scales of those people who are delivering what we all now recognise are the front-line jobs that kept the economy and kept Wales going at a time of crisis.