5. What is the Welsh Government doing to promote social partnership in the higher education sector in South Wales West? OQ59263

The Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill fulfils a programme for government commitment to place social partnership on a statutory footing in Wales. As it is a significant employment sector, we are keen to ensure that higher education is represented on the statutory social partnership council, and the Bill provides for that.

Diolch. The recently published Welsh Government innovation strategy recognises how crucial universities are in driving research and development, but the University and College Union have warned that excessive workloads are impacting all levels of staff, with 60-hour weeks being common, and high numbers reporting strain, and these issues are especially affecting those on low-pay precarious contracts, such as postgraduate researchers. University staff have been left with no choice but to take industrial action, and Plaid Cymru stands in solidarity with UCU members on strike this week.

So, what conversations is the Welsh Government having with HE management to lobby them to bring a serious pay offer to the negotiations, resolve the recurring pensions dispute with a proposal for Wales, and to improve terms and conditions? Will you commit to collaborating with unions to tackle these issues causing staff to leave the sector—and often our country? And in particular, Swansea University UCU have called for a five-way meeting between the universities, the governing bodies, UCU, and the Welsh and Westminster Governments to seek urgent bridging funding for the research staff made redundant this month as a result of withdrawal of structural funds, and to plan ahead for a knowledge economy insulated from stop-start funding policies. So, what has been the Welsh Government's response to that initiative?

Can I just say that the Member makes an important point in her question? I speak with UCU regularly in any event, but I was able to attend their conference, their congress, a couple of weeks ago, and to discuss with them at first-hand some of the concerns that they raised, and one of the points specifically that we touched on was, in fact, the innovation strategy.

She asks about my position. When I talk to vice-chancellors, I make it very clear I want there to be a negotiated settlement. I want to make sure that we're supporting staff and students to continue to make sure that Wales has the strong and successful HE sector that we have. I very much hope that they will be able to reach a successful negotiated outcome.

Minister, unlike the Welsh Government's narrow definition of social partnership, which is little more than giving voice to their trade union masters, true social partnership puts people and social inclusion at the heart of decision making. The social partnership network brings together higher education institutions who share common values related to lifelong learning and social mobility. It is a commitment to creating strategies and activities that contribute to a more diverse higher education system. Together, the networks show that collaboration with like-minded organisations is an effective way to reach new learners who might think that university-level study is not for them. Minister, will you be promoting this approach, rather than backing trade unions, which are about to embark on a series of strikes that will damage the education of students across South Wales West?

Well, I reject the premise of the question, and I'm not going to take any lessons on social partnerships from a Conservative. If you want to look to see what Conservatives do when they are asked to try and resolve disputes with trade unions, you can just look over the border. The answer is: they don't do anything to try and resolve them. The approach that we've—

I'm asking about Wales.

Yes, I know what you're asking and I'm describing to you the alternative universe in which a Conservative Government is asked to deal with these questions and fails. [Interruption.] In Wales, what we do is we work in social partnership, and I reject the description he gives of that. It is a respectful partnership; it is a transparent partnership. There are difficult issues to work through, and they can only successfully be worked through with an open, creative approach to negotiation. They can't be resolved by refusing to engage and, indeed, bringing forward legislation that undermines people's democratic rights to strike. If he has an opportunity to bring to bear his obvious passion for social partnership on his colleagues in Westminster, I would very much encourage him to do that.