4. Statement by the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales: Economic Response to COVID-19

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:19 pm on 1 April 2020.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 4:19, 1 April 2020

I thank the Minister very much for his statement today, and also for his offer of a weekly conversation with the main party spokespeople, where we'll have a further opportunity on an ongoing basis to raise concerns with him. He said in his statement how much he values that non-partisan approach and I know that we wish to work with him to ensure, in this very difficult time, that lives and livelihoods are preserved.

I have a number of specific questions. To begin with, further to the Minister's response to Nick Ramsay with regard to information about business support, I'm sure that the Minister will acknowledge that it is quite a complex picture still for businesses to understand what might be the appropriate support for them.

I wonder, as the set of packages come together, the UK packages and the Welsh Government packages, whether the Minister would consider contacting businesses directly—just as the Government has made a Herculean effort to contact the 81,000 people we believe are vulnerable to ensure they protect themselves, whether he would consider a direct contact to businesses. Because I'm certainly getting a lot of contact from businesses myself saying, 'I'm not quite sure if we fit into this; I'm not quite sure if we fit into that.' So, I think it would be very helpful if the Minister would consider, once we know exactly what's going on— and it may take a few more days for that to be the case—writing to businesses direct, because there may be many who will perhaps be making assumptions about them not being eligible for support when, in fact, they may very well be.