Terms of reference

Introduction

The Workplace Rights and Responsibilities Forum (WRRF) is a quarterly meeting chaired by the Welsh Government. The WRRF membership includes Social Partners and compliance and advisory bodies for workplace health and the labour market.

Purpose and scope

The purpose of the WRRF is to improve collective understanding of the workplace rights and responsibilities landscape; identify common challenges and barriers; consider factors that may influence better outcomes; and improve communication and relationships between business representatives, trade unions, and enforcement and advisory agencies. In order to do this, the WRRF will:

• support constructive relationships between participating organisations
• facilitate understanding of the roles, remits, and capacities of the participating organisations
• facilitate information sharing between participating organisations and encourage multi-agency collaboration
• where possible, identify strategic issues where organisations on the forum can act differently, either collectively or individually, to improve outcomes
• consider differential outcomes and impact on different groups of workers, including protected characteristics.

The commitment, capacity and input of its members will frame the ability of the WRRF to meet its stated purpose.

Meetings and ways of working

The WRRF will meet on a quarterly basis. Meetings may be rescheduled or cancelled at the discretion of the Chair. Meetings will take place remotely using Microsoft Teams.

The Welsh Government will provide the Secretariat for the WRRF and will:

• organise meetings
• commission and issue papers
• maintain an action tracker
• record and distribute minutes.

The structure of meetings will be determined in advance by the Chair. Meetings will normally include topical issues and verbal updates from partners. Participating organisations may request agenda items for upcoming meetings, with suitable notice, which will be accepted at the Chair’s discretion.

Members are also advised to contact the Secretariat concerning any accessibility requirements. The Welsh Government will periodically review the language preference of members.

The following behaviours are expected to be exhibited by all members to underpin open and collaborative ways of working:

1. Mutual recognition of legitimate and potentially conflicting interests.
2. Seeking co-operation and consent.
3. Ensuring each and every member has an equal voice and opportunity to participate.

Membership

The membership of the WRRF will comprise the following organisations:

• The Welsh Government
• The Wales TUC
• Trade Unions nominated by the Wales TUC (TBD: Wales TUC to be consulted)
• Business representative organisations (TBD: Wales Business Council, Chambers Wales, FSB, and CBI to be consulted)
• Public Health Wales
• Environmental Health Wales Group
• The Health and Safety Executive
• The Office of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement
• The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority
• The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate
• HM Revenue & Customs National Minimum Wage
• Acas
• Welsh Local Government Association
• Wales Council for Voluntary Action
• Equality and Human Rights Commission (as observers).

The Welsh Government will be responsible for maintaining an up-to-date list of member organisations and their nominated standing representatives. The membership will be routinely reviewed by the Welsh Government to ensure it is relevant and appropriate.

Nominated deputies can attend with the agreement of the Chair. On these occasions, deputies should ensure an appropriate mechanism is used to brief the standing WRRF representative following their attendance at the meeting.

Non-member organisations and individuals (for example, academics) may attend meetings with the agreement of the Chair. In participating, such organisations and individuals agree to abide by the Terms of Reference.

Confidentiality and conflicts of interest

Each member will take responsibility for ensuring that necessary confidentiality requirements are upheld. This means that if the Chair or other members advise that documents or information shared with the group are sensitive and confidential, that information or document must not be shared beyond the WRRF. This can include information provided verbally as well as in writing.

In open discussion, there may also be occasion when the views expressed may not reflect the official policy of the organisation the speaker is representing. Such views should be treated as such and in confidence.

The work of the WRRF may be subject to access to information requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Where such requests are received, the Welsh Government's standard Freedom of Information procedures will be followed.

Each member is responsible for ensuring any actual or perceived conflicts of interest are brought to the attention of the Chair.