Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 28 September 2021.
Well, Llywydd, I am in a position to respond to the general point that the Member makes. As I tried to explain to him gently last week, questions for Caerphilly County Borough Council are best placed to Caerphilly County Borough Council. The Welsh Government's policy in relation to social care, though, is the one that he articulated at the beginning of his question. We absolutely regard the workforce as highly skilled, hugely motivated, deserving of proper recognition. That's why we have a registered workforce here in Wales, to give people the professional status that they deserve. That is why this Government will fund the real living wage for social care workers in Wales during this Senedd term. I much regret that the UK Government were not prepared to put social care workers on their list of occupations that people could come to the United Kingdom to work in, because they do not regard them as highly skilled. I think that's an offensive distinction. I think people who do social care work are absolutely as skilled in what they do as some of the people who are able to come to the United Kingdom because the UK Government regards them differently. When people are in Wales, this Government's policy is to treat them with the respect and with the remuneration, as much as we are able, that they deserve.