Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 9 November 2022.
Can I thank the Member for his further questions? I just want to point to one element where people will be surprised that we may agree. It's around the need for diversity of representation as part of the social partnership council, through those bodies that are represented on the body as proposed. You are right that, actually, you can't extend it to everybody, because, as I've said in committee, you'd end up with a conference every time, rather than a council. But on the point of making sure that we have diversity of people, whether that's in terms of their background or protected characteristics, there is a piece of work ongoing now, through our social partnership forum we've established, to look at the operational nature of what the legislation would involve, to make sure that we are working with those bodies to ensure that there is a mechanism to ensure there is that diversity of representation on the council. Again, the Member just misunderstands what the whole point of the council is about, and social partnership. It is not for the Welsh Government to assert our authority over anything or to try and drive our agenda. It's actually recognising that we know, in Wales, that we are stronger by working together as part of a team, using those collective experiences and voices, to shape legislation for the better. I would say that this legislation is significant and landmark, but ultimately it's not about changing legislation; it's about changing lives, and that's what we want to do further along the line.