2. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 22 April 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:55, 22 April 2020

Llywydd, the leader of the opposition has mentioned dairy farming, fishing, tourism, sole traders—I think there was another one in there too. I think all he is doing is illustrating the astonishing economic challenge that there is as a result of coronavirus. Haulage, I'm sorry, was another that he mentioned. All of those sectors, I know, are facing real challenges, and we could've added to that list many times over, I'm sure.

The Welsh Government's resources are limited. We are squeezing everything we can out of our existing budgets. We are passing on every penny of additional help that comes our way through the UK Government, and we are doing our best to design the additional help that we can provide in a way that is complementary to the help that the UK Government's schemes are offering to businesses here in Wales.

I'm, of course, very happy to put on record our recognition of everything that is being done by the farming community here in Wales and to recognise the particular challenges that dairy farmers are facing. Lesley Griffiths welcomed, on Friday of last week, the temporary lifting of some competition laws in the dairy industry to allow for a more planned way in which the milk that is being produced in the dairy industry can be used for places where milk is needed. In the meantime, we've produced guidance for dairy farmers in Wales, helping them to make sure that if, as a last resort, they have to dispense with the milk that they have without it going into the food chain, they can do that in the safest way possible.

As for the changes we have made to self-catering accommodation, I'm perfectly happy to say that we'll keep it under review, because it was a review of the evidence that led to Julie James announcing the changes that we have made. What the changes mean is that a tourist business, even a small-scale one, has to demonstrate that it is letting property for 140 days in a year. I really don't think that if that is the income that you are depending upon, it is unreasonable for you to show that for 140 days of the year that property is being occupied for tourism purposes, and then you have to demonstrate that the income you get represents a reasonable proportion of your total income.

The anxiety was—and I know Paul Davies will know this, because it's been raised by local authorities in south-west and north-west Wales—that a lot of public money was at risk of going into the pockets of people for whom this is a small and supplementary part of their income, not the income that they rely on to make their business a success. So, I think we have done the right thing, but I'm very happy to say that we will keep the evidence under review. And if fine-tuning is required, then we will return to that, and that is true of a number of the other things that Paul Davies mentioned. The fishing industry, for example—we've announced a scheme to make sure we can assist our fishing industry in Wales. If it needs to be fine-tuned, we'll need the evidence and we will look at that.

I'm very alert to the points that the leader of the opposition made about tourism in Wales. I know we've rehearsed it here before that the pattern in the tourism industry is that people invest in the winter and recoup those costs and make their businesses successful in the summer, and, as the weeks go by, that is putting a very particular strain on that business model. We are working hard alongside the tourism industry to try to do what we can to help.

On microbusinesses and the other points that Paul Davies ended with, in many ways those are gaps in the UK Government's schemes, and they have the major responsibilities here. We continue to engage with UK Ministers, and the Chancellor has shown the willingness to introduce new schemes and new measures where gaps in the original provision have emerged. Sole traders, microbusinesses: they remain an area where we need the UK Government to step in and offer the support that is needed.