Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 9 November 2022.

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Photo of Joel James Joel James Conservative 1:44, 9 November 2022

Finally, Deputy Minister, in terms of the social partnership council, as you mentioned in one of your earlier responses, there is concern that the council will not adequately represent the wide and diverse range of views present when providing evidence and advice to the Welsh Government. For example, social enterprises, non-unionised workers, ethnic minority communities, health and social care workers, to name but a few, will not be represented, and this risks undermining one of the fundamental aspects of the Bill because the very people that the Bill claims to help won't actually have a voice at the table. It's obvious that expanding the council to include such representatives would, indeed, make the council unworkable. But the alternative is that having, as pointed out by CollegesWales, representatives exclusively from the trade unions risks excluding a significant number of workers and could create a two-tier system of worker voice. It also has the potential to become a quagmire of opposing opinions, where the Welsh Government will be put in a position of alienating some groups over others because their opinions do not conform to Welsh Government thinking. Deputy Minister, how are you going to ensure that a greater section of worker voices is represented? How is the Welsh Government going to ensure a fair assessment of those opinions when taking advice from the council? And how are you going to stop the social partnership council from being reduced to an echo chamber of the Welsh Government and an instrument that only says what the Welsh Government wants to hear? Thank you.