I would like to thank the Minister for his statement here today. However, I would like to raise a few points. You mentioned the reforms to local government. I would just like to remind you that those reforms—particularly your imposed map for local authority mergers—have not been agreed by any democratic mandate. Currently, I must advise you that our local authorities—many of their staff and members—remain very concerned amid the chaos that you yourself have created in this regard.
There are a number of questions I would like to ask regarding the Public Services Staff Commission. How will the commission be accountable, and to whom? How will the Welsh Government ensure transparency and political neutrality between the commission, public service workers and the Welsh Government? How will you clarify how the commission will be promoted to local staff, who are currently very concerned about their own employment? We welcome your comments on zero-hours contracts, Minister, amid the hypocrisy of your own Government, when we know the First Minister’s own local authority—a Labour-run council—has many zero-hour arrangements in place. The Welsh Conservatives are committed to tackling exploitative zero-hours contracts. However, we do hope that the commission will recognise that there are people for whom more flexible working patterns are beneficial. We hope that the commission will ensure that moves are not made to threaten those actually benefitting from these contracts. You also mentioned the Trade Union Bill, which will balance the ability to strike with the right of millions to go about their daily lives without disruption at short notice and to vital public services. Now, tomorrow, the Welsh Conservative debate will be looking at your Government's record on public services. Do you not agree that ensuring a real and proper democratic mandate from union members for strike action will go some way to help protect service provision for the people of Wales? Welsh Conservatives have long called for Wales to become the first living wage nation, and the Chancellor’s initiative to implement a national living wage back in July is a clear message that this UK Government recognises hard work. The UK Government have implemented a clear strategy to move the UK towards a high-wage, low-tax economy, bold in backing the aspirations of working people, and many hard-working people right across Wales will now see their pay rise to £7.20 an hour this coming April, increasing to £9 by 2020. We welcome this wholeheartedly on behalf of the people of Wales. Leighton Andrews
Well, if I can start with the question of the reforms to local government, there is no imposed map of local government; there is a map that has been published by the Welsh Government as its preferred map. That builds on the work that had previously been done by the Williams commission and, as we have said repeatedly in this Chamber, and indeed in committee, we will be consulting on that map alongside the second local government Bill later this year. In respect of the Public Services Staff Commission, we've gone through an open public appointments process for the chair and for the members of the commission, and that's absolutely appropriate. The staff commission will be working with the workforce partnership council, and there will be discussions in the workforce partnership council, as I said, next month, which will help to shape the work programme for the staff commission. Clearly, the staff commission will also be able to look at what happened in the 1990s, with the previous staff commission there, and we've discussed that, of course, in committee. I think there are some valuable lessons to be learned from doing that. Local staff will, of course, be able to engage with the work of the commission through the meetings that it will be having, through their own representation, through recognised trade unions, so I don't think there are any issues there. I heard what she said in respect of zero-hours contracts. I made a fuller statement on that in the summer. We recognised in that statement that there are sometimes flexibilities where there is a need for more flexibility in the operation of certain contracts, but I do think that we have to be honest about the fact that there are many people currently who have conditions imposed upon them, and we want to regularise that situation. In respect of the Trade Union Bill, I am afraid I have to disagree wholeheartedly with her. That was a Bill, obviously, that was debated at length yesterday in the House of Commons. I'm very interested in the comments that have been made on the Trade Union Bill by, obviously, my own colleagues in the House of Commons, and elsewhere by trade unions, and, indeed, by the Conservative Member of Parliament, David Davis, who says, ‘there are bits of it which look OTT, like requiring pickets to give their names to the police force. What is this? This isn’t Franco’s Britain, this is Queen Elizabeth II’s Britain.’ Those were the words of the Conservative MP David Davis. I should hasten to add that's not David Davies, the Member of Parliament for Monmouth; it's David Davis without the ‘e’ in his surname.
There are a number of questions I would like to ask regarding the Public Services Staff Commission. How will the commission be accountable, and to whom? How will the Welsh Government ensure transparency and political neutrality between the commission, public service workers and the Welsh Government? How will you clarify how the commission will be promoted to local staff, who are currently very concerned about their own employment? We welcome your comments on zero-hours contracts, Minister, amid the hypocrisy of your own Government, when we know the First Minister’s own local authority—a Labour-run council—has many zero-hour arrangements in place. The Welsh Conservatives are committed to tackling exploitative zero-hours contracts. However, we do hope that the commission will recognise that there are people for whom more flexible working patterns are beneficial. We hope that the commission will ensure that moves are not made to threaten those actually benefitting from these contracts. You also mentioned the Trade Union Bill, which will balance the ability to strike with the right of millions to go about their daily lives without disruption at short notice and to vital public services. Now, tomorrow, the Welsh Conservative debate will be looking at your Government's record on public services. Do you not agree that ensuring a real and proper democratic mandate from union members for strike action will go some way to help protect service provision for the people of Wales? Welsh Conservatives have long called for Wales to become the first living wage nation, and the Chancellor’s initiative to implement a national living wage back in July is a clear message that this UK Government recognises hard work. The UK Government have implemented a clear strategy to move the UK towards a high-wage, low-tax economy, bold in backing the aspirations of working people, and many hard-working people right across Wales will now see their pay rise to £7.20 an hour this coming April, increasing to £9 by 2020. We welcome this wholeheartedly on behalf of the people of Wales. Leighton Andrews
Well, if I can start with the question of the reforms to local government, there is no imposed map of local government; there is a map that has been published by the Welsh Government as its preferred map. That builds on the work that had previously been done by the Williams commission and, as we have said repeatedly in this Chamber, and indeed in committee, we will be consulting on that map alongside the second local government Bill later this year. In respect of the Public Services Staff Commission, we've gone through an open public appointments process for the chair and for the members of the commission, and that's absolutely appropriate. The staff commission will be working with the workforce partnership council, and there will be discussions in the workforce partnership council, as I said, next month, which will help to shape the work programme for the staff commission. Clearly, the staff commission will also be able to look at what happened in the 1990s, with the previous staff commission there, and we've discussed that, of course, in committee. I think there are some valuable lessons to be learned from doing that. Local staff will, of course, be able to engage with the work of the commission through the meetings that it will be having, through their own representation, through recognised trade unions, so I don't think there are any issues there. I heard what she said in respect of zero-hours contracts. I made a fuller statement on that in the summer. We recognised in that statement that there are sometimes flexibilities where there is a need for more flexibility in the operation of certain contracts, but I do think that we have to be honest about the fact that there are many people currently who have conditions imposed upon them, and we want to regularise that situation. In respect of the Trade Union Bill, I am afraid I have to disagree wholeheartedly with her. That was a Bill, obviously, that was debated at length yesterday in the House of Commons. I'm very interested in the comments that have been made on the Trade Union Bill by, obviously, my own colleagues in the House of Commons, and elsewhere by trade unions, and, indeed, by the Conservative Member of Parliament, David Davis, who says, ‘there are bits of it which look OTT, like requiring pickets to give their names to the police force. What is this? This isn’t Franco’s Britain, this is Queen Elizabeth II’s Britain.’ Those were the words of the Conservative MP David Davis. I should hasten to add that's not David Davies, the Member of Parliament for Monmouth; it's David Davis without the ‘e’ in his surname.