Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I want to start by thanking my colleague and constituency neighbour Jack Sargeant for bringing this debate in the Senedd today. As someone who has spent the vast majority of her working life working for a better deal at work, it's absolutely something that I welcome, and I share your commitment to a better deal for workers. I want all workers in Wales to be treated fairly and with respect, as it should be. Also, congratulations to you and Sarah Murphy on becoming co-chairs of the Unite group in the Senedd here, following in the footsteps of not just me but also the Deputy Presiding Officer. 

I want to thank all Members who've contributed to this debate today, because these matters affect, as we've heard, the daily lives and livelihoods of people right across the length and breadth of Wales. And Jack Sargeant was right to talk about the example of Airbus, where it was really to pay tribute and a testament to what happens when the trade unions work together with the employers, and take a bold and brave decision. I know that there's a lot of credit to the work of Daz Reynolds and the team at Airbus in terms of doing that, and the work for us as a whole in taking that decision.

You will know that economic, social and environmental justice drives everything that we do as a Government, and the values of fair work and social partnership are central to that. Safe, secure and rewarding work is not just in the interest of workers but in the interest of employers, too. We know that a better deal for workers does not just make a difference in making workplaces better, it goes much further and is much more fundamental to the fabric of a stronger, better and fairer recovery and country. That is why this Welsh Government is committed to working towards fair work in Wales, working together in social partnership to make a lasting difference to lives and livelihoods.

Whilst employment rights, as we heard, remain reserved to the UK Government, we are committed to using every lever and power available to us to deliver fair work outcomes, using our social partnership approach and the power of the public purse to improve working practices, cultures and behaviours. The draft social partnership and public procurement Bill will put social partnership in Wales on a formal footing. It will strengthen socially responsible procurement, and it will place a social partnership duty on certain public bodies. And it will place a fair work duty on Welsh Ministers.

But, of course, the Bill, although a significant step forward for us, is not our only lever to effect change. I want this new Welsh Government to go full throttle in putting into action the ambitious policy agenda set out in the 'Fair Work Wales' report. And we've started that with a workforce rights and responsibilities campaign aimed at raising awareness of workplace rights and guiding to support. We also established a social care fair work forum and associated working groups, which seek to improve working conditions in social care, which, of course, will play an important role in putting into practice our pledge to pay social care workers the real living wage. Mike Hedges talked about the importance, so many years after introducing the minimum wage, of actually really pushing the real living wage—20 years after the campaign for a living wage actually started. For me, it's not a benchmark, it's a baseline, and a real living wage should be fitted around other terms and conditions, and the opportunity to progress in work. 

We've also established a national health and safety forum, which brings together a range of partners to improve the approach to health and safety at work, particularly in the context of the COVID pandemic. This Government will also push for the underfunded Health and Safety Executive to be devolved in a way that will work for workers and workplaces in Wales. 

Deputy Presiding Officer, we're working in support of the fair work floor in relation to statutory rights and protections, and we're striving to raise the fair work ceiling in terms of moving above and beyond legal minimums. In supporting the fair work floor, we are pressing the UK Government to safeguard against the regression on workers' rights, and to call for enhancement in certain areas, raising knowledge and awareness of workers' rights and avenues of support, advice and redress where rights have not been adhered to, and reinvigorating and reinforcing the Welsh Government's code of practice on ethical employment of supply chains, and improving its impact. 

When looking at the fair work ceiling, we are using the public purse to encourage good practice and discourage poor practice, ensuring the Welsh public sector acts as a leader and a role model for the behaviours and practice we want to see in others and, importantly, improving access to trade unions and encouraging an extension of collective bargaining. 

We've heard a lot today about fire-and-rehire—that pernicious practice that needs to be legislated against. The UK Government needs to stand by the undertaking that it's given to retain workers' rights and we will continue to hold them to account, because we know that a race to the bottom on workers' rights is not in the interest of workers, business or the broader economy. You know, fire-and-rehire came to the fore in the public conscience through the GMB campaign at British Gas and then the Unite campaign at British Airways, and the reality really needs to match the rhetoric from the UK Government on practices like this; simply asking the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service to resolve and produce fresh guidance, as they've done, is not going far enough to protect workers from such actions.

By contrast, we know that the best employers provide fair work and recognise the benefits to them of doing so. It's those behaviours that, here in Wales, we want to take root and spread so that we build back better, stronger and fairer. We'll work with our employers and trade unions to champion fair work and the benefits of social partnership, delivering a fair deal for workers and making the workplace a better place for all. Diolch.