Mr. Gerry Light:

The Deputy is quite right. A lot of the stuff we have discussed today would not be proper to the legislation. We see these occasions as an opportunity to open doors and invite people in to have a discussion in respect of other matters that may not be directly linked to what we are discussing, but are indirectly linked.

When we consider the broader consideration of our concerns, workers' rights could span the course of many debates that are currently taking place. I put a specific emphasis on collective bargaining because the power of workers acting within a union bring that power into effect when they work collectively. It is important that we open that as a gateway to other discussions that need to take place.

The other legislation we are keen on, and for which we have called for members employed right across the retail sector, is legislation that makes it an offence to abuse or treat bar workers badly. Such legislation was passed in Scotland during Covid, when the Scottish Parliament introduced legislation to deal with the abuse of workers in a particular sector. Similar legislation has been passed in New South Wales, Australia, where people can be committed for up to seven years if found guilty of assaulting, physically or otherwise, retail workers. They are important debates in terms of opening up discussion. Some of the matters we have raised today are specific to the Bill under consideration.