Janet’s Contributions
First Ministers Questions
13:57
Janet Finch-Saunders
There are two in three teenagers now in the UK, including Wales, reporting experiences of trolling, online bullying and sexual abuse. The UK Government Minister, the right honourable Chris Grayling MP, has actually now made announcements that he is going to impose higher fines and, indeed, take sentences up from six months to two years for very serious counts. Will the First Minister join me in welcoming this positive initiative, and will he pledge his support to working with the UK Government on this issue, which is affecting so many of our young people now here in Wales?
13:57
Carwyn Jones
The First Minister
Yes, that is an important point that the Member raises, and I can say that we will work with the UK Government to ensure that our young people, particularly young teenagers who are perhaps at their most vulnerable time of life in many ways, certainly in terms of their development, receive the full protection that they are entitled to.
Response to the Statement: Public Services Staff Commission by the Minister for Public Services
14:45
Janet Finch-Saunders
Minister, I welcome your statement today. I have a few observations and, indeed, some questions. In your programme for government, you did make a clear commitment to the delivery of efficient, effective and accessible public services across the whole of Wales. I would like to see some emphasis, actually, on transparency, financial probity and democratic accountability, where appropriate, running as a main thread through our public services in Wales.
The previous speaker asked about job evaluation, and it is fair to say that I have had some mixed messages from the Welsh Government as to how the current job evaluation programme is working its way across, mainly, local authorities, and on the equal-pay reforms. It would be interesting to hear whether the Minister is yet up to speed with how many local authorities have actually completed their job evaluation process, how many have yet to do so, and, indeed, how that process is going to dovetail along with any future reforms of local government.
I note your mention of social partnership as embodied in the workforce partnership council, and that that apparently does bring together trade unions of public service employers, and it says that it has been at the heart of a number of public service summits. I would like to ask how many of those have taken place, how transparent a process that has been, and where the reporting mechanism is on that.
I think it is fair to say also that, since the tabling of the Williams report, there has been a huge focus on local authorities, and, of course, this was a public services reform. How can you, as the Minister, now ensure that all public bodies will be represented and engaged in this process, in particular through the staff commission? What will be the remit of the staff commission? Who will be invited to join? Again, will there be transparency of process and will you guarantee political neutrality?
Talking about the roles of senior salaries, it was the Welsh Conservatives who believed that senior salaries in Wales—not just among chief executives, but, indeed, some of the senior management teams—were eye watering, and we wanted actually to include senior management in the independent remuneration process.
I would like to know whether you could guarantee that there will be no undermining of the independent appraisal of senior management pay scales, and that it is not just related to chief executives. Have you thought about the resource implications of setting up such a commission and what sort of costs are likely to be involved in this? Also, this talks greatly, to a large degree, about the non-voluntary mergers. What about those mergers that, if not voluntary, may be forced by yourself? How will the staff commission actually be implemented? How will it impact on those? Thank you, Minister. There are a few questions there, I am afraid.
14:48
Leighton Andrews
Thank you. Well, I think if the Member were to consult the White Paper that we are issuing today, she would find answers to many of the questions that she has raised. For example, in paragraph 66, she will see, I think fairly precisely, the kinds of issues on which the non-statutory staff commission would be able to advise, including recruitment and retention of staff, transfer of staff from current to new local authorities, harmonisation of terms and conditions of service, job evaluation and grading, senior post recruitment and remuneration, pensions and impact of transferring staff to different public service pension schemes, impact on staff recently transferred to private sector contractors, and issues affecting the wider public service workforce.
In paragraph 49, she will find the range of public service bodies that could be covered by the remit of the non-statutory staff commission, including county borough councils or county councils in Wales, town or community councils, fire and rescue authorities, national park authorities, the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales, the local health boards and NHS trusts, the Care Council for Wales, the governing body of a maintained school or federation, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, the Arts Council of Wales, the National Library of Wales, the National Museum of Wales, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, the Sports Council for Wales and the natural resources body for Wales. So, I would suggest that the Member does read and study the White Paper, which gives a considerable number of answers to the questions that she has raised. In respect to the costing of the non-statutory staff commission, we have estimated overall a cost of around £0.5 million for the establishment and running costs.
She will, of course, recall that there have been previous staff commissions during previous local government reorganisations, not least, of course, the local government reorganisation carried out by the Conservative administration in the mid-1990s. So, I am surprised that there should be any ideological objection on her part to the creation of a staff commission. In respect of the Williams proposals, we produced a further document on that in July, which I think she will have seen. In respect of transparency, given the range of organisations represented at the public service summit—which included, of course, trade unions representing the public sector workforce and employer representatives—I do not think there was any danger of any secrecy with regard to the kind of discussions that were being held there. In respect of what she has to say about senior salaries, clearly we have the independent remuneration panel, and that work will continue.
13:57
Janet Finch-Saunders
There are two in three teenagers now in the UK, including Wales, reporting experiences of trolling, online bullying and sexual abuse. The UK Government Minister, the right honourable Chris Grayling MP, has actually now made announcements that he is going to impose higher fines and, indeed, take sentences up from six months to two years for very serious counts. Will the First Minister join me in welcoming this positive initiative, and will he pledge his support to working with the UK Government on this issue, which is affecting so many of our young people now here in Wales?
13:57
Carwyn Jones
The First Minister
Yes, that is an important point that the Member raises, and I can say that we will work with the UK Government to ensure that our young people, particularly young teenagers who are perhaps at their most vulnerable time of life in many ways, certainly in terms of their development, receive the full protection that they are entitled to.