Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:52 pm on 17 May 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:52, 17 May 2022

Well, Llywydd, following the annual event in which the real living wage calculation is announced for the following financial year, I wrote to the leaders of all public sector bodies in Wales, urging them to come forward as real living wage employers. Now, the point that I made in my letter was that I am prepared to recognise that different bodies—different local authorities, for example—are on different parts of the spectrum as far as the journey to real living wage accreditation is concerned. Cardiff Council is an outstanding early example of success in that field, but I recognise that not everybody starts from the same place. What I'm not prepared to recognise is a reply that says that there is no plan to get to real living wage accreditation. So, that was the burden of my letter to not just local authority leaders, but leaders of public sector organisations of all sorts in Wales. This is a journey that we all have to be on, albeit that some will be better placed to get to the end of that journey than others.