Vaughan Gething: Well, we do certainly recognise that pubs are an important part of community life, not just as businesses employing people, but giving places a sense of place as well. And I've recognised again the way that pubs have been highlighted today and the brewing businesses have come up on more than one occasion in this set of questions: the challenges of raw material increases, the challenges of...
Vaughan Gething: There is particular support available through Business Wales, and some of the energy efficiency advisors look at what might be possible for those businesses, because it will vary from one business to another. I recognise the point the Member makes about off-grid businesses and their energy costs as opposed to those businesses seeing energy cost increases who are on grid as well. It also...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. The levers to tackle cost increases for businesses, interest rates for borrowing, taxation of windfall profits and regulation of the market lie squarely with the UK Government. Our priority is to support businesses to decarbonise and save, and we look for opportunities to help them to do so.
Vaughan Gething: I'm not sure that we need a deep dive, but what I did do at the start of this term, in work that I commissioned Jonathan Portes to do for the Welsh Government, was to look at a range of our challenges and factors. It includes both the reality that, as the Member has said, in some parts of Wales we're seeing a population move away from those areas. That's a big challenge in making sure that we...
Vaughan Gething: We are using our skills, business support and economic development levers to help create and safeguard good-quality employment and to help improve progression opportunities. This supports our efforts to increase gross disposable income per head as part of our economic mission and our approach to a well-being economy here in Wales.
Vaughan Gething: There are a couple of different points I think that we should make. There is the fact that because replacement funds have not been made available, we are over £1 billion down over three years; that's a matter of fact, not opinion. That directly affects research, development and innovation funding. That's, again, an inescapable fact. When it comes to improving the return for Wales from UK...
Vaughan Gething: So, the education Minister has already announced an increase in QR funding previously. When it comes to consequentials from this announcement, we are in active conversation with the UK Government to finalise the amount and the usage of that. There is always a challenge—and I understand why it's made—when there is an announcement made for a particular sector within England for exactly the...
Vaughan Gething: Welcome back. It is frustrating that political differences between the EU and UK have created continued uncertainty and the inability to resolve association with Horizon Europe. The UK Government has previously allocated £6.8 billion for EU programmes in this area to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, without a separate Welsh Government allocation. We do have a...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, we continue to be in discussions with developers about the land—again, for a mix of residential and commercial uses. I don't want to comment about the actual discussions that are ongoing that are yet to be completed, but we are looking at options for that continued development to help to finalise it, together with the steps we've taken to acquire the Prince of Wales dock as well. So,...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the points made. You're right that it is an area where we're seeing a successful combination in the development of a scheme that combines residential, high-skilled employment and commercial activity. What we're looking to do is we are having constructive conversations with Swansea council about the adoption and what we hope will be the eventual transfer to local authority...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. Good progress continues at SA1, with good levels of developer and occupier interest. The University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s matrix innovation quarter proposals are progressing, the student accommodation development on Kings Road is nearing completion, and the Welsh Government has completed the acquisition of the Prince of Wales dock.
Vaughan Gething: There are two things. On non-domestic rates reform, that is a conversation that I continue to have with the finance Minister, who, as you understand, is the ministerial lead when it comes to reform of taxation. There's a significant programme of reform that continues to move at pace on broader taxation. You know of the work we're doing on council tax reform, for example. So, we are looking at...
Vaughan Gething: Well, as ever, we're using the tools that we do have at our disposal, and the understanding of a scheme that people understand, because of the way that we have supported businesses in this area before, and, of course, we already have a range of reliefs built in to our system for smaller businesses in any event, and we've got a cap on the amount that businesses can benefit from as well. That...
Vaughan Gething: Let's just deal with some of the challenges that come here. And I do say this as gently but as honestly as I can, to the Member: when it comes to talk of anti-growth policies, when it comes to talk of whether you know what you're doing, actually, you just need to look at what happened in the disastrous six weeks and what it did to tank the economy across the UK. Your party, that many of your...
Vaughan Gething: Well, when it comes to anti-growth measures, the most significant anti-growth intervention, of course, took place in the six weeks of Liz Truss's premiership. That was a significant intervention that made all of the challenges that exist within the economy much, much worse. And it was amusing to hear the anti-growth coalition being talked about and then seeing the hole that was blown by Kwasi...
Vaughan Gething: Well, there is both the challenge that we face and indeed the action that we're taking. And the challenge that we face, the Member will know, because we've talked about it and it's a reality, is that the challenges in replacement European Union funds are a significant problem in the skills landscape. We funded a whole range of our skills interventions through former EU funds. The fact that...
Vaughan Gething: We have a range of finance support available through the development bank for small and medium-sized businesses. Part of our challenge, as has been indicated by Sioned Williams in her opening question and the follow-up, is that there are particular pressures in different parts of the economy. So, broadly, those businesses that rely on discretionary spend—and I met the visitor economy forum...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. This is not just topical, it's important not just for now but for the future as well. And we're looking at opportunities both to decarbonise but I would say also to save costs and to help the bottom line, and I think it's important that we do both of those things. Some businesses will be persuaded by the broader imperatives of the climate, and others will want to...
Vaughan Gething: As the Member will know, the levers to tackle cost increases on businesses, interest rates for borrowing, taxation of windfall profits and regulation of the energy market lie squarely with the UK Government. Our priority remains to support businesses to decarbonise and to save. We continue to identify opportunities to redirect resources to reduce burdens on businesses, and, of course, the...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I can confirm that those conversations do take place and it's a real concern for the Welsh Government. You'll see in the draft budget that we published yesterday the reality of how we make the whole budget balance. And the relative value of the Welsh Government's budget has significantly decreased because the realities of inflation within that prioritisation is looking at both of the...
