Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:49 pm on 7 February 2017.
Leader of the house, could we have two statements, please, or maybe even just a letter in the Library, in the first instance from the Minister for finance, explaining the new business rates scheme—the additional money that was put on the table? I appreciate that this was raised some two or three weeks ago, and, in our debate on the Wednesday, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government did indicate that he was hopeful of bringing forward the proposals by the early part of February. I’m conscious that we are now in the early part of February and, to my knowledge, no new information has come out as to how the additional £10 million that was highlighted before Christmas by the Welsh Government to be made available to local government for businesses caught by the revaluation would be administered and delivered to those businesses. So, in the absence of that information being out there, are you able to request from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government an update as to exactly where the Government is with its information so that local authorities and, indeed, businesses can understand how they will benefit from this additional money?
Secondly, whilst I welcome the move to put jobs around Wales, in particular the development bank that the Government has taken to north-east Wales and, obviously, the revenue authority up to Treforest, I am a little concerned at the disjoint in Government policy, and I’d be grateful if we could have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for the economy, because we do have a financial services hub enterprise zone here in Cardiff, and surely the Welsh Government should be promoting that, and yet when it has financial service sector jobs, it is not seeking to locate them within my own region of South Wales Central in the enterprise zone. Likewise, it is a fantastic job creation that Aston Martin has gone to St Athan, and we welcome that opportunity, but, under the Government’s economic strategy, that is supposed to be an aviation hub, and the automotive sector is supposed to be around the enterprise zone in Ebbw Vale. So, I’m conscious we’ve got a new Cabinet Secretary, I’m conscious the enterprise zones were brought forward by the previous Minister, but, in recent announcements that the Government has made, there does seem to be a dislocate between the policy of promoting enterprise zones and the actions of the Government. As I said, I welcome the Welsh Government’s opportunity to spread jobs around Wales; what I’m worried about is the dislocate between the policy initiatives and policy levers about promoting enterprise zones.