Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:28 pm on 29 April 2020.
Llywydd, I thank Lynne Neagle for both of those points. Coronavirus is a business emergency as well as a health emergency, and that is being felt in some very big employers here in Wales. I think certainty about the furlough scheme, so that companies know that it's not going to come to an abrupt end, that they can continue to hang on to their workforces and don't need to move to redundancy, is key to dealing with the sorts of issues that Lynne Neagle is identifying in her own constituency but which are there in many other parts of Wales as well. Those are companies who don't want to let go of their staff because they lose the skills that, in many instances, they have themselves invested in growing over many years. But the furlough scheme comes to an end not that many weeks from now. The Chancellor has announced one short extension to it; he needs to announce further extensions, particularly for the most vulnerable sectors, of the sort that Lynne has identified. And we continue to make that case very clearly to him. But a quick and abrupt end to the furlough scheme will simply result in costs to the UK Government, moving from the furlough scheme to redundancy costs and to benefit costs. So, much better to continue to invest in helping those companies to have a successful future, and, of course, we will do what we can through the economy Minister and his team to help in specific instances.
As far as shoppers are concerned, thank you to Lynne for what she said about the position being improved. I think they're much more confident now that those in the shielded group are able to access online shopping. For people outside that group who find that they're no longer able to get access in the way that they did, I think their first port of call is to their local authority hub. And it may be that there will be other arrangements that can be put in place where people can still get the food they need, and disabled people and others without networks of support can rely on the help that local authorities can provide to them. It may not be through an online shopping arrangement, but a volunteer going to the shop, getting what they need and taking it to them. And in line with what Lynne Neagle said and others have said, local authorities in Wales are, I think, successfully demonstrating that they're able to step into the breach where we have vulnerable people who don't have other networks that they can draw on.