Agenda item 2: Work strand 1 - Violence and harassment in the workplace

1. The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the work of the Task and Finish Group set up to look at violence and harassment in the workplace.  

2. At its meeting on 10 February, it was proposed that an initial area of focus for the Public Sector Future Workforce Forum (PSFWF) could be to consider and produce guidance on violence and harassment at work (protection for staff). This is experienced across all aspects of the public sector by those in public facing roles and can include (but is not limited to):

• verbal abuse or threats, including face to face, online and via the telephone
• physical attacks.

3. At the round-table event held on the 7 April this was identified by both trade unions and employers as a significant area of concern and a potential workstream.

4. The forum suggested activity should focus on scoping the scale of the problem, building data on good practice and developing effective methods to mitigate risks for frontline workers. This could include assessing how to standardise an approach that can be promoted across Wales.

5. It was agreed that the group should be chaired by a forum member and that membership of the working group would be broader than the forum to ensure the right level of representation and expertise.

6. It was also agreed that, as a Task and Finish Group, the issue should be progressed quickly and the work completed within 6-12 months.

7. The Task and Finish Group was established with Sharon Davies, WLGA and Nicky Hughes, RCN as Co-chairs. The following people have agreed to sit on the group:

• Sharon Davies (Chair) - WLGA (Employer)
• Nicky Hughes (Chair) - RCN (Trade Union)
• Gemma Southgate - TSSA (Trade Union)
• Helen Johns - NASUWT (Trade Union)
• Mark Roach - CWU (Trade Union)
• Ceri Williams - TUC Cymru (Trade Union)
• Nelly Adam - DHCW (Employer)
• Claire White - DHCW (Employer)
• Adam Leatham - North Wales Fire & Rescue (Employer)
• Nina Durant - Welsh Government (Employer)
• Anne-Louise Davies - Trading Standards, WLGA (Employer)
• Catherine Evans - Welsh Government (Employer)
• Mark Lewis - Welsh Government (Employer)

8. The first meeting was held via Teams on 12 May. The group acknowledged that violence/ harassment against frontline staff was a growing problem and identified a number of areas where evidence/ data had already been collected, including:

• Trading Standards and Animal Health Officers
• Emergency services had been collecting information since 2020 on assaults against emergency workers in the blue light sector
• The Anti-Violence Collaborative had collected data for the NHS
• The Communication Workers Union (CWU) had done some work to reduce dog attacks on postal workers.

9. The group agreed it would be useful to hear more detail about the information already available at a workshop which would be planned for June.

10. In terms of potential areas of focus, it was noted that incidences of assault/ abuse were under-reported and there may be a piece of work to encourage staff to report assaults/ abuse at work.

11. However, in terms of focusing on outputs from the work, it was agreed the workshop should be held first to allow the group to identify any gaps in existing evidence and decide where it could have most impact. A decision would then be taken on whether the group would work towards developing guidance/ a set of principles or a toolkit.

12. The group agreed a face-to-face workshop should be arranged in June at the WLGA offices in Dumballs Road, Cardiff.

13. Existing evidence/ data would be shared in the morning session, and the afternoon would be used to discuss areas of focus for the group and the outputs to be achieved.

14. There was a suggestion that the Innovation Team at Transport for Wales (TfW) might be able to help facilitate an ‘ideas sprint’ as part of the afternoon session. The secretariat would liaise with TfW to try to arrange this.

15. Additional experts would be invited to attend the workshop including:

• Shelly Asquith, TUC Cymru, Trade Union
• Mike Walker, USDAW, Trade Union
• Jo Robinson, National Adviser for Violence against Women and Domestic Abuse, Welsh Government
• Laura Reynolds, Violence against Women and Domestic Abuse Team, Welsh Government.

16. The Secretariat would liaise with the co-chairs and members to arrange a suitable date and draw up an agenda for the day.

17. No action is required; this is a paper to note. A further update on the work of the Task and Finish Group will be provided at the next PSFWF meeting.