2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the gender pay gap in South Wales West? OQ57167

Thank you, Llywydd, for that question. The Office for National Statistics does not publish separate figures on the gender pay gap in South Wales West. According to recent ONS figures, the Wales-wide figure was 5.0 per cent in April 2021. This compares to 7.9 per cent in the United Kingdom. The gap has widened in the UK over the previous year, but it has remained unchanged in Wales. 

Thank you, First Minister. We see clearly in our workplaces just how economic inequalities do merge with other inequalities, such as gender inequality, and figures published recently reveal that the gender pay gap is 12.3 per cent in Wales—a figure that Chwarae Teg has described as disappointing, as it is 0.7 per cent higher in Wales than it was last year. This goes up to 20.7 per cent in the area in which I live and I represent, namely Neath Port Talbot. The figures have been broken down by local authority, and that local authority is the one with the fifth highest pay gap in Wales. So, how is the Government going to close this gap in those sectors that it has control over, and to encourage other sectors to do likewise? And given particularly the Government's aim of encouraging 30 per cent of the workforce to work from home in future, what plans are in place in order to ensure that the change in working habits is one that eradicates inequalities rather than one that deepens and widens the gender pay gap and other long-established structural inequalities? Thank you.

Diolch, Llywydd. Well, I’m sure that we could rehearse different sets of figures, but the fundamental point is that we want to see the gender pay gap in Wales continuing to narrow to the point where it’s eliminated, and that is a shared ambition in many parts of this Chamber. The gender pay gap for the Welsh Government is part of our approach to social partnership and to fair work, and we pursue it through the social partnership forum and in partnership with employers and trade unions here in Wales. The Welsh Government takes practical action across a range of our responsibilities. The childcare offer is particularly, we know, useful to women in the workplace, and I’m glad to say that the latest figures we have show the highest ever uptake in Wales of the childcare offer—the most generous childcare offer for working families anywhere in the United Kingdom.

As to the policy of working from home or through remote working hubs, then I think there are real advantages that can be gained from that in the sphere of gaps between men and women, but other groups in the workplace as well. We know, Llywydd, that disabled people particularly have found the ability to work from home has eroded some of the disadvantages that they faced otherwise, and through our system, which is to create remote working hubs in different localities throughout Wales, then, for people for whom working from their own home is not a viable proposition, there will be alternatives that they can use. I think that will mean that there will be people who will, in future, be able to take advantage of employment opportunities and better paid opportunities than might have been the case in the past, and it can be, used properly, another weapon in the armoury to reduce the pay gap.

Can I thank my South Wales West colleague Sioned Williams for tabling this important question as well? And, First Minister, I share her ambition to eliminate the gender pay gap in Wales, particularly as we know that the pay gap is wider in Wales than it is in the rest—compared to the UK average. But, one of the ways we can help to tackle the gender pay gap is by ensuring women and girls are not put off courses in well-paid careers in sectors of the economy that are traditionally seen as male sectors. In the Welsh Government review into gender equality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, we saw that of those work-based placements in the STEM sector registered with the Education Workforce Council just 22 per cent of those placements were occupied by women. The review also stated that Wales also had the lowest percentage of women enrolling onto higher education STEM courses anywhere in the UK. So, what action is the Welsh Government taking to improve access to the STEM sector for women and to better encourage them to pursue STEM courses in higher education?

I thank the Member for the question. For the record, Llywydd, it's important to say that the pay gap in Wales is higher than it is in Scotland or Northern Ireland but lower than in any region of England. So, you know, the position is a little less bleak than the Member suggested in opening his question. But the point he makes is a very important one.

Huge efforts have been made in Wales to encourage young women to enter further and higher education in the STEM subjects. Our previous Chief Scientific Officer for Wales led that herself; she created a group of women in the STEM subjects in academic institutions, but in industry as well, to come together to be role models for young women. And that work goes on, I think, in a very practical way in many parts of Wales. In Thales, in my colleague Alun Davies's constituency, the company there makes enormous efforts to make sure that opportunities in those new and emerging industries are advertised to young women who live in that part of Wales, and that a pathway is created for them, from the classroom, through further and higher education, and directly into employment as well.

In our new degree-level apprenticeships, more young women are entering STEM-related employment than young men, and I think given the historical patterns that the Member quite rightly pointed to, that is a very significant achievement. There is a cultural change that we are trying to bring about here and that won't happen rapidly everywhere. But the combined efforts that are being made across the education sector and the employment sector, I think, are beginning to show real erosion of those more traditional ways of thinking about opportunities that are available.