– in the Scottish Parliament at on 22 November 2023.
Marie McNair
Scottish National Party
5. To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment set out in its programme for government 2023-24, whether it will provide more details of how it plans to increase the number of people earning the real living wage. (S6O-02753)
Neil Gray
Scottish National Party
In line with our programme for government commitment to boost wages, we are providing grant funding to the Poverty Alliance to deliver living wage and living hours accreditation schemes across Scotland. Such schemes promote the business benefits of pay security for both workers and their employers. In July, we introduced a requirement on public sector grant recipients to pay at least the real living wage to all employees and to provide appropriate channels for effective voice.
Although minimum wage rates are reserved to the United Kingdom Government, we will continue to use the levers that are at our disposal to promote payment of the real living wage and enhance fair work in Scotland.
Marie McNair
Scottish National Party
An effective real living wage policy represents a very welcome attack on poverty pay, and more must be done to assist people on low pay. Does the Cabinet secretary agree with me and the Scottish Trades Union Congress that the full devolution of employment powers would allow Scotland to do much more, such as ending zero-hours contracts and fire-and-rehire practices?
Neil Gray
Scottish National Party
The STUC and the Scottish Government have long shared the view that employment powers should be devolved to Holyrood. We continue to call for that to enable us to create fairer workplaces, enhance workers’ rights in Scotland, help to shift the curve on poverty, and deliver a fairer, greener and growing economy in a more prosperous Scotland.
The full devolution of employment powers will allow us to legislate to support workers in precarious employment and ban fire-and-rehire practices. It is important that Scotland can legislate appropriately for its own workforce to ensure adequate protections and security of employment, and to fully implement policies that will best meet Scotland’s distinct needs.
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.
