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Welcome to the latest edition of the Social Partnership newsletter which provides an update on the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill.
This landmark Bill was laid before the Senedd on Tuesday 7 June 2022 and continues to progress through the legislative journey.
To find out more about the Bill, visit our brand new webpage here: Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill | GOV.WALES.
The Bill fulfils a Programme for Government commitment to place social partnership on a statutory footing in Wales. It provides a framework to enhance the well-being of the people of Wales by improving public services through social partnership working, promoting fair work and socially responsible public procurement.
The Bill is intended to complement other legislation, including the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Bill has been developed applying the Socio-economic Duty in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010.
The Welsh Government’s ambition to put social partnership onto the statute book took a step further towards becoming a reality as the Senedd voted in favour of the general principles of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill on 29 November 2022.
The Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, Hannah Blythyn, said ‘I am pleased that the Bill has passed this important milestone. Embedding the principles of social partnership working into public life in Wales reinforces our ambition to create a more equal, fair and just Wales. Using the mechanisms available to improve how we work together and how we spend public money will help us to build our economy on the foundations of fair work and sustainability. I look forward to working with the Senedd as they examine the detail of the legislation and I will make sure it fulfils our ambition’.
The Bill has completed Stage 1 of the legislative process. The Bill has now entered stage 2 of the scrutiny process. During this stage the Senedd's Equality and Social Justice Committee gives detailed consideration to the draft Bill and Government and non-Government amendments tabled by Members of the Senedd.
The Senedd has created an article which provides background information on the Bill, explains what it does, and sets out the key issues considered by Senedd Committees. To view this document, please see here: Fair work and better public services? The Social Partnership and Public Procurement Bill (senedd.wales).
Senedd dates:
23 January – Stage 2 debate
7 March – Stage 3 debate
14 March – Stage 4 debate
To find out more, visit the Senedd page here: Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill (senedd.wales).
Academi Wales events for public sector organisations:
17 January – Introduction to Social Partnership
31 January – Social Partnership and Public Procurement Bill
14 February – Social Partnership Duty
To find out more click on the following links:
AWCIC - Learn and Share: Introduction to Social Partnership (Online) - Overview - Events - Academi Wales (gov.wales)
AWCIC - Learn and Share: Social Partnership and Public Procurement Bill - Overview - Events - Academi Wales (gov.wales)
Food Skills Cymru working in partnership with the Welsh Government’s Social Partnership, Employability and Fair Work Directorate will be running three online workshops in January 2023 to provide an opportunity to learn more about workers’ rights in the context of the food and drink sector in Wales. Participants will hear and engage with speakers from a range of organisations promoting workers’ rights and tackling labour market abuse and exploitation.
The workshops will be delivered online at 10am on the following dates:
Wednesday, 11th January 2023 - Click to register
Wednesday, 18th January 2023 - Click to register
Wednesday, 25th January 2023 - Click to register
If you have any upcoming events that you would like us to attend, please get in touch.
We continue to develop new resources to support the Bill, we have developed a Components Map which outlines the key provisions of the Bill and main provisions of the legislation.
The following resource is also available: Easy Read Guide.
We are keen to expand the resources we have available – if you have any ideas of the types of materials you would find useful or would like to see, let us know.
The UK Government’s Procurement Bill has recently progressed from the House of Lords and will soon be introduced in the House of Commons. A further supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum has been laid before the Senedd so the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee and the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee can consider the amendments.
We continue to work closely with the UK Government on the development of the Bill to ensure there is consistency between the procurement rules as they will apply in Wales and England, and that there is maximum alignment between the Bill and the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill. We are also currently developing the secondary legislation that will be required to ensure the proper functioning of the legislation.
We will continue to update you as both of these important pieces of legislation continue on their legislative journey.
If you have any questions, please email Procurement.Reform@gov.wales.
Retail Forum Case Study
See here: https://www.gov.wales/social-partnership-and-public-procurement-wales-bill-retail-forum-case-study for our latest case study about the Retail Forum working in social partnership.
Shadow Social Partnership Council Case Study
See here: https://www.gov.wales/social-partnership-and-public-procurement-wales-bill-shadow-social-partnership-council-case-study for our latest case study about the Shadow Social Partnership Council.
If you have any suggestions for case studies, please contact the team at socialpartnership@gov.wales.
Unions and the World of Work Pilot Project
Working in partnership with the Wales TUC, the Welsh Government recently launched the Unions and the World of Work pilot project. The pilot is available to secondary schools across Wales and draws on best practice from similar schemes run by the Scottish TUC and by Unite across the UK. It aims to ensure the next generation of workers, employers and entrepreneurs have a better understanding of employment rights, the role of trade unions and the impact of collective voice in addressing issues in the workplace and beyond.
The project supports delivery of the Careers and Work-Related Experience (CWRE) theme of the new Curriculum for Wales, and will be delivered alongside other employer engagement opportunities. Resources are available which can be used to deliver stand-alone lessons by teachers, union reps, or applied in a cross-curricular way.
Following the launch of the Unions and the World of Work Pilot, Caerleon Comprehensive School hosted the Minister for Education and Welsh Language and the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, who dropped in to check on the Pilot and meet with teachers, learners and trade unions (Written Statement: ‘Unions and the World of Work Pilot’ Project (20 October 2022) | GOV.WALES). To find out more about the pilot, please contact youthwales@tuc.org.uk.
Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains
Did you know that as of December 2022, over 450 organisations have signed up to the Welsh Government’s Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains?
Since the Code was launched in 2017, the number of organisations signing up has steadily increased. Signatories represent a wide range of sectors. These include public bodies, third sector organisations, and businesses from sectors as diverse as construction, healthcare, cleaning services, and TV and film production.
What does signing up to the Code mean? It means your organisation has agreed to adhere to the Code’s 12 commitments addressing unethical and unlawful practices, such as labour exploitation, blacklisting, false self-employment, and unfair use of zero hours contracts.
The Welsh Government expects all public sector organisations, businesses and third sector organisations in receipt of public sector funding to sign up to this Code of Practice. We also encourage other organisations operating in Wales from any sector to sign up. Additional information and guidance is available here. Should your organisation wish to sign up to the Code and for any other queries, please contact CommercialPolicy@gov.wales.
Making sure that those involved in social partnership working at all levels in Wales represent the wider population is really important and you may be interested finding out a bit more about the work going on to encourage more people to stand as local councillors.
We are experiencing a decline in individuals putting themselves forward to serve as councillors on our county and county borough councils and our community and town councils. Welsh Government wants to encourage people to stand for election, whether through a local by-election, or through opportunities to be co-opted or to start working towards the next local government election. Our aim is to start now, and we want to work with you to promote this opportunity to your employees.
If you are interested in exploring this further, please contact sarah.warne@gov.wales.
We are keen to engage with you on the Social Partnership and Public Procurement Bill and talk more about the importance of this legislation and embedding social partnership working.
To contact the team please email, SocialPartnership@gov.wales.
Please forward this newsletter on through your networks.
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