9. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership: Fair Work: Annual Progress and Priorities

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:59 pm on 28 February 2023.

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Photo of Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn Labour 5:59, 28 February 2023

I'll start by addressing the most substantive contributions from Joel James, and in particular around the very important points that he makes around support for disabled workers, people with disabilities, around fair work. I'm more than happy to commit to including that in a future update, but I'm also happy to go away and see if we can update Members in writing, ahead of that as well. I would say, just because things aren't included in my oral statement today doesn't mean that they're not happening; it's just on the basis that we have a limited amount of time to update in the Senedd Chamber today. And I'm sure that the Llywydd would have something to say if I listed every single item in the Fair Work Commission progress report update.

I'm not surprised by—. Joel James opens by saying that he wasn't surprised by my apparently ideological stance around trade unions. Likewise, I'm not surprised that that was Joel James's opening line. I think we're all very familiar with that in this Chamber now, and it's all very well rehearsed.

Just a point on the issues around the referenced agricultural advisory panel. I'm not sure whether Joel's aware that, obviously, that came out of the embers of the Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales. It was a Tory Government, a Conservative Government, who wanted to axe the agricultural wages board, and actually, in a former life, I was part of the campaign to try and stop that and, when that went ahead, to make sure that there was support in place for workers here in Wales through the agricultural advisory panel. And I'm sure some of the points he's made around the disparities in the minimum wage will be fed back to members of that panel, on which there's equal representation from trade unions and across the farming unions as well, and independent members, and I'm sure they will hear those comments loud and clear to be fed back. But it is this Government that is very much on the side of workers and putting those mechanisms to make sure that we can do right by workers, whether they're in urban or rural settings.