1. What assessment has the Commission made of whether any of its contractors use fire-and-rehire practices? OQ57963

Diolch. We have safeguards in place that should protect against fire-and-rehire practices, and the Commission is committed to ensuring fair and transparent employment practices are in place throughout the supply chain for our contracts. To win our business, our contractors must demonstrate high standards of corporate social responsibility at the tender stage, and we do have clauses in our contracts that cover equalities, human rights, and fair employment practices. Once successful, we have regular contract review meetings where CSR is a standing agenda item, and as part of this, we work with contractors to ensure fair employment practices. Acting reasonably, we also reserve the right to request changes to any of those practices we consider to be unfair.

Thank you very much. That is very encouraging to hear. We, myself and Mike Hedges, through our role with the cross-party group on PCS, have heard from PCS that some organisations funded by Welsh taxpayers are using these fire-and-rehire practices, so it's good to see that the Commission is having an influence in this regard. Would you agree with me that, in terms of contractors, it is important that we do ensure and send a very clear message that the practice of fire and rehire is something that we don't agree with in this Senedd?

May I thank the Member for raising this important issue? I will certainly pledge to examine all contracts to make sure that the abhorrent practice of fire and rehire is not part of the contracts that we are able to sign as a Commission. We'll also continue to look to see whether there is more that we can do to tighten up protections against fire-and-rehire practices, and, as I said, we've got clauses in place, in our contract on fair employment practices, and we reserve the right to change any practices that we consider to be unfair. We ensure our contractors, for example, pay their staff in line with the entry rate for Commission staff—that's £10.78 per hour—which is more than the real living wage, which is currently £9.50 per hour from April of this year. I think that demonstrates how we set the bar very high in terms of the contracts that we sign with businesses.

Will the Commission unequivocally condemn the use of fire and rehire, and will the Commission say that any funded contractor to the Commission that uses such method of reducing terms and conditions of employees will no longer be allowed to tender and be part of the Commission and employed by the Commission, whether they do it with other parts of the organisation, not just if they do it with the people they employ at the Commission? And will you also agree with me that there is no role for fire and rehire anywhere in the public sector in Wales?

I'd agree with the Member that the practice of fire and rehire has no place as far as we're concerned. As I said in response to Heledd Fychan, we'll continue to look to see whether there is more that we can do to tighten up protections against this particular practice. I would say that it is unacceptable, that it's not something that we would wish to see, and we will do our utmost to ensure that we monitor contracts and delivery to ensure that it is not part of the business that we support.

To be answered by Joyce Watson, question 3, Mabon ap Gwynfor.