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2019.09.10
17 Deputy C.S. Alves of the Chairman of the States Employment Board regarding the
payment of the Living Wage by the Government of Jersey to all cleaners and grounds staff: (OQ.213/2019)
Following the recent press release regarding the Living Wage Foundation accreditation, in which it was stated that the Government "will now work towards all contracts being compliant, so the cleaners and grounds staff that work regularly on Government premises receive the living wage for their work", will the Chairman advise what measures will be put in place to ensure this happens with all contractors?
[11:45]
The Deputy Bailiff :
The Connétable of St. Ouen is taking this one.
The Connétable of St. Ouen (Vice Chairman, States Employment Board - rapporteur):
I was a bit worried that I was not going to answer that question. The Government of Jersey is committed to ensuring that all relevant contractor staff employed on Government premises for more than 2 hours a day, or more than 8 hours a week for 8 consecutive weeks, will be paid the Jersey living wage by 2024 at the latest. We are actively working with contractors to identify when we can introduce this into their contracts, hopefully before that date. Two types of contracts identified in the press release - cleaners and grounds staff - are identified as examples only. There are a number of measures being implemented to ensure that the Jersey living wage is and will be paid to Government contracts on review; all Government standard terms and conditions containing a clause requiring that the Jersey living wage be paid to relevant staff. Contract management processes and procedures are in place to ensure the monitoring of performance and service levels and adherence to contract terms. An internal audit will do annual reviews on a sample basis of the tender process and contract management.
- Deputy C.S. Alves :
In Written Question 182 of this year, it was stated that the contractual requirement to pay the living wage is included in the Government's standard terms and conditions and only applies to contracts over £100,000. Will this still be the case?
The Connétable of St. Ouen : No.
- Deputy M. Tadier :
Will the Minister confirm that when he said for any individual being employed more than 2 hours a day, whether that covers zero-hours contracts, so somebody working zero-hours contracts for 2 hours a day, or however many hours, is that included in his answer?
The Connétable of St. Ouen :
Yes, it is, because the contract will be with the contractor, not with us, so we may not be aware that they are on a zero-hours contract, but the criteria we set down will have to be adhered to as part of our contractual arrangement with the contractor.
The Deputy Bailiff :
I am afraid that brings the time allocated to the questions with notice to an end. We now move to questions without notice; the first Minister to receive questions without notice is the Minister for Home Affairs.