1. What support is the Welsh Government providing to the tourism industry to mitigate the impact that coronavirus may have in Wales? OAQ55252

This is a developing situation. I want to reassure the sector that we're continually monitoring the impact of coronavirus on tourism and working with colleagues across the Welsh Government and the UK Government to take appropriate measures in response to the unfolding situation.

Diolch, Minister. When I tabled this question last week, who could have imagined that we'd be seeing the effective cancellation of the tourist season before it even began? Minister, hopefully the measures we are taking to halt the spread of coronavirus will mean that life can return to some sense of normality in a month or two.

In the meantime, the impact this pandemic is having on tourism businesses and those who work in tourism is profound. We need to ensure that all businesses, large and small, survive this crisis. Bans on international travel will mean more staycations once the UK relaxes the current restrictions. However, unless the sector gets the help that it needs in the short term, we won't have a sector come the summer.

Minister, what other measures have you discussed with colleagues across the UK? Have you given any consideration to Government agencies using holiday lets, hotels and B&Bs to provide shelter for the homeless or as temporary accommodation for key workers? This is an unprecedented situation for which we need to seek unprecedented solutions.

Thank you, Caroline Jones. I think you're absolutely right to underline the seriousness of the situation for this particular sector. We know that there are about 11,700 tourism enterprises in Wales, and they employ about 135,000 people. So, this is huge, and we are taking it very, very seriously. Certainly, we hope that some of the measures that we've already put in place will help some of them. We're putting £200 million on the table to make sure that those who have a rateable value of £51,000 or less will receive that 100 per cent business rate relief. But there will be an extra £100 million on the table, and that is something that is currently being discussed, and certainly there's a real awareness and an understanding that this is a sector that needs immediate help. 

Can I just begin by asking you to say thank you to the officials of the Deputy Minister on my behalf and behalf of the cross-party group on tourism because they've now put some guidance up on the website?

Just on that last point, though, I appreciate that the Chancellor only gave additional details of the finance being made available to Wales yesterday, but even before that Scotland had announced a 75 per cent rates relief for retail hospitality and leisure businesses with a rateable value of £69,000 and less from 1 April. That is a little bit more helpful for those businesses that are over the £51,000 threshold, as we would see here in Wales.

I appreciate there's a £5,000 reduction on business rates for those businesses over £51,000, but actually the 75 per cent reduction is probably better for them. If you consider that some of these are genuinely local businesses and not big national chains, and also employ more people, I'd be grateful if you or the Deputy Minister would be willing to take that argument to the table on Thursday, when the use of the £100 million you refer to is being discussed. 

My question is this, though: we're right at the beginning of the main tourism season when these businesses, large or small, are considering taking on their seasonal staff. If we want to avoid an explosion of zero-hours contracts, I wonder if you could share your current thoughts on supporting seasonal payroll as well as perhaps giving an indication of how quickly tourism operators know how the rate relief that you've already referred to is going to operate in terms of speed, because that's obviously very pressing for them at the moment. Thank you. 

Thank you. Certainly, we are extremely aware that the people who are significantly under threat here are the SMEs, and they may be averse to borrowing. There are opportunities for them to borrow through the Development Bank of Wales, but obviously some of those are averse to taking that out. So, what we do know now is that we will have consequential funding as a result of the Chancellor's announcement of £1.16 billion, and we are hoping that some of that will specifically be directed towards the retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism sector.

We feel like the Chancellor perhaps should have gone a little bit further than he did do in terms of underwriting the wages of employees who are laid off. So, some of them have already been contracted. I understand your point that some of them would have perhaps just been about to be taken on, but I think, at the moment, we do feel like the Chancellor has got to go a lot further in terms of protecting and underwriting those wages of the employees who are likely to be laid off unless something changes significantly.  

Question 2 [OAQ55267] has been withdrawn. Question 3, Nick Ramsay.