Agenda item 4: cycle of Social Partnership Council (SPC) meetings

SPC Members are asked to agree: 

i. A cycle of four SPC meetings per year (as set out in the draft forward work programme (Annex A).

ii. The following pattern of meetings for 2025, Spring (March), early summer (June), Autumn (September) and Winter (December). 

1. The Social Partnership Council (SPC) are asked to agree their cycle of meetings. 

2. The Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 (“the Act”) requires the SPC to meet a minimum of 3 times in a 12-month period although this does not preclude the SPC from holding further meetings.
    
3. The SPC has yet to agree its cycle of meetings or its forward work programme. As an interim measure, the SPC Secretariat recommend that the SPC meets four times a year. This fixed schedule will allow meetings to be planned, diaries confirmed as far in advance as possible, and allow for a more balanced workload.
    
4. The draft forward work programme, outlined in the attached annex, contains some items already agreed by members that would be brought to the SPC on an annual basis, the annual legislative programme, the annual review of well-being objectives and the annual budget – the three levers that the SPC agreed will discharge the duty on Welsh Ministers to consult with the SPC on matters of a strategic nature as set out in the Act.
    
5. The Summer and Autumn meetings (June and September) are fixed to ensure meaningful consultation with the SPC on the levers set out in the previous paragraph. The Winter and Spring meetings will have a degree of flexibility and ensure that dates are spaced out equally throughout the year.
    
6. There will also be times where some business will need to be addressed outside of SPC meetings i.e. members may be asked to provide their initial views on a draft document or asked to agree a general direction of travel prior to a paper being brought back to the SPC. However, formal sign off will still need to be made at a SPC meeting. Whilst a cycle of four meetings per year is recommended, the SPC may wish to meet on more occasions and further meetings can be arranged outside of this arrangement at the SPC’s discretion.
    
7. Members have previously indicated that they should meet in person as least once a year as these provide opportunities to network and foster better working relationships. However, it is at the members discretion to agree their preferred pattern of ‘in person’ meetings, and the decision could be made on an ad-hoc basis and taken at the end of each meeting should members wish it.

8. The SPC is asked to agree a set cycle of four meetings per year and a pattern of meetings for 2025 to take place in Spring (March), early summer (June), Autumn (September) and Winter (December).

Meeting 1: 1 February 2024

• For agreement - The SPC Procedures
• Overview of Public Bodies' Well-being Duties under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015
• Proposed approach to the provision of information and advice by the SPC to the Welsh Ministers
• Fair Work: policy and context, levers, and constraints
• The Socially Responsible Public Procurement provisions of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023  
• Operationalising the Social Partnership Duty on Welsh Ministers
• The Welsh Government’s 2024 to 2025 Draft Budget
• Meeting with Mosque Leaders and Imams

Meeting 2: 4 June 2024

• Welsh Government Legislative Programme
• Consultation on Welsh Ministers legislative priorities
• Reviewing the Welsh Government well-being objective

Papers to note:

• Update on Socially Responsible Procurement
• Outline Forward Work Programme

Meeting 3: 10 July 2024

• Use of Welsh Government financial support to ensure fair work
• The potential for the Social Partnership Council to advise on AI implications for the workforce
• The potential for the Social Partnership Council to support equality and diversity

Papers to note:

• Draft SPC Members’ Attendance and Conduct Policy
• Update on Socially Responsible Procurement

Meeting 4: 30 September 2024

• Welsh Government Budget Priorities 2025 to 2026
• Funding Conditionality/ Improving the Economic Contract
• Agreeing the Forward Work Programme
• Approach to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion issues
• Approval of the SPC Procedures

Paper to note:

• Update on Socially Responsible Procurement

Meeting 5: Spring, March 2025

• Socially Responsible Procurement
• AI and the workforce (potentially including an update from WPC)

Meeting 6: Summer, Early June 2025

• Consultation on Welsh Ministers’ legislative priorities 2025 to 2026
• Consultation on the Annual Review of the Welsh Government’s Well-being Objectives

Meeting 7: Autumn, September 2025

• Consultation on the priorities for Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026 to 2027
• Agreeing the Welsh Government’s Social Partnership Report

Meeting 8: Winter, December 2025

• Review/Interim Analysis of Public Bodies Social Partnership reports