8. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership: Fair Work: Annual progress update

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:59 pm on 29 March 2022.

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Photo of Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn Labour 4:59, 29 March 2022

Diolch yn fawr, Peredur, for your question. If I touch on the last point first, and reiterate what I said to Joel James, our position as a Welsh Government is clear: we do not believe we should promote low wages as a reason for investing in Wales. I was disappointed by the approach that Cardiff capital region took in emphasising lower rates of graduate pay relative to some parts of the UK. I understand that the region has now clarified its position and its aspiration to raise wages and the quality of work across the region, but I very much reaffirm that the Welsh Government is committed to working with our partners to make sure that fair work is embedded and promoted across everything we do, as recommended by the Fair Work Commission's report.

If I turn to some of the points you made very eloquently, and your very valuable points around the challenges for people at each end of the working age spectrum, shall we say, in terms of actually where we are in, perhaps, the more pressurised economic circumstances. As part of our recent employability and skills strategy, myself and other Ministers across Government—particularly my colleague the Minister for Social Justice—have worked very closely with colleagues such as the Minister for Economy and colleagues across economy, social partnership and fair work to make sure that not only is fair work embedded as part of this, and is considered as part of it, but, actually, that those considerations you raised are mainstreamed across everything we do, and that it takes into consideration, too, those kinds of challenges around intersectionalities, not just for older people, but women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, too. So, it's very much something that's at the heart of what we do, and I'm more than happy to pick that up with the Member outside of the statement today, just to take up some of the questions you raised. 

One of the things we've been looking at, too, is in terms of how we can use those levers, particularly within the public sector, where we do have more leverage because of where our devolved responsibility lies. It's something that I worked on in a previous role in a previous life as well, as we say, and that's, actually, the value that older people can bring to the workplace in terms of passing on their skills. So, looking at opportunities for things like phased retirement and reducing their hours at a phased rate, and actually being able to then work with younger people to help upskill and then transfer their skills as part of those training and apprenticeship opportunities. So, there are plans there and there's work done, and as I always say, there's much more to do, but like I said, I'm more than happy to engage with the Member about how we can work collaboratively on this.