The Real Living Wage

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 16 November 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:11, 16 November 2021

I thank the Member for that supplementary question, and I agree with much of what he said. I too welcome the decision by the PCC of Dyfed-Powys to become an accredited employer, and Rhys ab Owen is right to point to the success of the higher education sector in Wales. In Swansea, in Mike Hedges's own city, it's a leading example of what can be done. The Welsh Government ourselves try to lead by example. We are an accredited real living wage employer. We fund Cynnal Cymru to be the vehicle that campaigns on this issue, that has had the success that I outlined earlier. The gap between the percentage of employees in Wales who are covered by the real living wage and elsewhere shrank again last year. It's been shrinking year by year, and we're now very close indeed to the UK position as well. We use the influence that we have through our economic contract, and certainly, in the letter that I will be writing to public bodies in Wales, I'll be making all the points that Members here have made about the benefits of doing so.