2. What assessment has the First Minister made of the use of fire-and-rehire practices by employers in Wales? OQ56530

I thank Mike Hedges for that question, Llywydd. Fire-and-rehire practices have been deployed by some employers in Wales. However few these instances may be, I share the view of the Prime Minister that they are unacceptable. The UK Government now needs to act to put these practices beyond the law.

Can I agree with what the First Minister has just said and thank him for his response? But the question is: what can the Welsh Government do to discourage fire and rehire? Can they use their procurement policy, can they use their financial support for businesses, to discourage this practice, which unfortunately has grown in recent years?

Well, Llywydd, Mike Hedges is right that the practice has grown in recent years. Evidence published by the TUC in January of this year said that nearly one in 10 workers had been told to reapply for their jobs on worse terms or face the sack. And further research, published in April of this year, found that 70 per cent of companies deploying these tactics were profit-making companies. They weren't companies driven to it as a last resort because of the pandemic; they were making profits, and healthy profits too—the supermarket Tesco, to mention just one company, who have done very well during the last 12 months and still deploying these tactics. Fifty per cent of those companies had claimed support from the UK Government during the pandemic. Now, we can use our economic contract, as Mike Hedges suggested, we can use our social partnership arrangements, we can work through the trade unions and those in Parliament to put pressure on the UK Government to take the legislative action they have promised.

In 2019, Llywydd, in the Queen's Speech, the UK Government promised an employment Bill. The Prime Minister described it as the largest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation, and yet that Bill has never been published. Now, if the Prime Minister is serious that fire-and-rehire practices are unacceptable, if, as Jacob Rees-Mogg says, companies should know better, if, as the Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng says,

'we have been very clear that this practice is unacceptable' and the Minister responsible

'has condemned the practice in the strongest terms on many occasions in this House', then we need the UK Government to act on that basis. Now, I'm told that, this afternoon in the House of Commons, the Minister will make a statement and will publish the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service's review of fire-and-rehire practices that the UK Government commissioned. It is good news that we will be able to see the product of that work. I hope that it will then lead to legislative action, which only the UK Government can take forward, to make sure that this practice, as I said, is put beyond the law. 

First Minister, these fire-and-rehire practices used by some employers, as you have said, have been condemned by Governments across the UK, and I understand that the UK Government has confirmed that there will be an employment Bill brought forward in due course to tackle this issue. I very much hope that this legislation will be introduced in the near future, because it could have a substantial impact on workers throughout Wales, as well as in other parts of the UK. So, it's crucial that the Welsh Government also works with the UK Government on any legislative proposals. So, can you tell us what inter-governmental discussions have taken place with the UK Government on this issue? What work has the Welsh Government done to assess the scale of the problem here in Wales, and will you publish any information gathered by the Welsh Government on this issue?

Well, Llywydd, thank you very much to Paul Davies. We have had opportunities to discuss this issue with Ministers in Westminster and, as I said in response to Mike Hedges, the UK Ministers are on the record stating that they don't think that this is acceptable. The issue is that we haven't yet seen anything to give us confidence that the words will turn into actions that we can achieve. Of course, we are more than happy to collaborate with the United Kingdom Government if they have something to put before us and that we have discussed in the social partnership council that we have. There aren't many examples that I'm aware of in Wales, but there are some—Centrica, as one example. I've received many letters back and forth with Centrica on behalf of people who work for them here in Wales. And I would also be willing, if something were to come from the UK Government, if there was a Bill for us to consider, of course, I would be willing to share information with Members here in the Senedd.