Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure – in the Senedd at 2:15 pm on 9 November 2016.
Well, it is essential that due diligence is taken fully into account as part of the process of determining whether a business should get Welsh Government or taxpayer support, and processes are rigorous. I am looking at ways that we can strengthen that process. I think it’s also important to recognise, though, that in terms of the support we have offered, only 4.9 per cent of the 1,110 companies that received offers of financial assistance from the Welsh Government over the last five years have actually gone into recovery. So, the proportion is actually very small. But, of course, whenever a company does fail, it does make a lot of news. I am, as I say, undertaking work to look at how due diligence can be strengthened, and I will update Members accordingly. In terms of enterprise death rates, again, we have got a good story to tell in Wales. The average proportion of businesses that close is 9.2 per cent, compared to 9.6 per cent in 2014. Of course, during the last few years, we have seen unemployment in Wales reach a record low, and employment in Wales reach a record high. Some businesses will fail for various reasons. We deal, as I say, with hundreds of businesses each year. The economic reality is that some will fail and some will succeed, and not all business proposals go according to plan. What is essential, as the Member has highlighted, is that we carry out all checks thoroughly and rigorously on the businesses and the people leading them, so that we can guarantee that the taxpayer is getting full value for money and that their investment is as risk free as possible.