6. Will the First Minister provide an update on progress made in relation to introducing the living wage in the public sector in Wales? OQ56894

Llywydd, the number of public sector employers paying the living wage continues to increase year by year. Recognition of Cardiff as the first living wage city in the United Kingdom is rooted in the fact that both the local authority and the local health board are accredited living wage employers.

Thank you, First Minister. This has, of course, demonstrated the economic benefits that come to local areas when the public sector and local authorities in particular, perhaps, are accredited as living wage employers, because they are key anchor organisations in those communities. In a statement in 2019, you said that you would write to all public bodies in Wales asking them to achieve living wage accreditation. Can you tell us, therefore, whether all local authorities in particular have responded positively to that request and are moving in that direction proactively? If not, then what are you as a Government doing to encourage them to take action on that? And finally, by when do you as a Government foresee that every local authority in Wales will have become an accredited living wage employer?

Llywydd, thank you very much to Llyr Huws Gruffydd for the question. The information that I have shows that 14 of the local authorities in Wales pay the living wage. The number has increased over the years, and I look to all public bodies in Wales to plan to pay a living wage. I acknowledge the fact that not all local authorities are in the same position. Not all local authorities under the leadership of Plaid Cymru are as yet paying the living wage. That reflects the fact that local authorities are not all starting from the same point. The point that I always make to them is that I am willing to acknowledge that, but I'm not willing to accept it when they say they don't have a plan and that they haven't started the journey.

I try each year to attend the annual event that celebrates the living wage. That will take place on 15 November, and at that event we receive the official report of what has happened over the year to date, and how organisations throughout Wales are preparing and planning for what they can do in the ensuing year.