1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at on 15 February 2017.
Caroline Jones
UKIP
8. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on how the Welsh Government ensures fair pay for local government staff? OAQ(5)0093(FLG)
Mark Drakeford
Labour
2:17,
15 February 2017
I thank the Member for the question. The Government supports fair pay across the devolved public sector. While pay for local government staff remains a matter for democratically elected local authorities as employers, the Welsh Government supports them in that work through, for example, the workforce partnership council, the independent remuneration panel, and the Public Services Staff Commission.
Caroline Jones
UKIP
Cabinet Secretary, I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have been affected by the pay review being conducted by local authorities. People who have been working in highly skilled roles for decades have suddenly found that their jobs have been reclassified as unskilled, and, as a result, my constituents have had their wages cut, sometimes by as much as 25 per cent. The fear amongst many local government employees is that they are being targeted in an effort to cut costs. Cabinet Secretary, how is it fair when high-ranking local government officers earn more than the Prime Minister, yet lower-paid local government employees are having their pay axed? What plans do you have to ensure that this doesn’t continue, and to rectify the constituents’ complaints that have come to me? Thank you.
Mark Drakeford
Labour
2:18,
15 February 2017
Well, Llywydd, I would expect any actions by local authorities in reviewing jobs that staff carry out to be carried out in a way that is consistent with the advice provided by this Government and the agreements that those local authorities will have with their trade unions. One of the ways in which we will help to make sure that that happens in future is through the trade union (Wales) Bill that we are bringing in front of this National Assembly to make sure that the rights of trade unions are not eroded and that they are able to go on protecting their members in circumstances of the sort that the Member described. I look forward to the support of her party as that Bill makes its way through the National Assembly.
Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
2:19,
15 February 2017
I thank the Cabinet Secretary.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
A group of workers who have united to promote their common interests.
