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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 29 April 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:41, 29 April 2020

I thank Vikki Howells for both of those. I believe that business support in Wales is more extensive than in any other part of the United Kingdom. And the way we are using our economic resilience fund really is stepping into some of the gaps that were there after the UK Government acted—and I always say at this point that we acknowledge the considerable steps they have taken to provide support for businesses.

We've paused the scheme as of Monday, and one of the reasons is that we want to look to see whether we can fine tune it. There was a good reason for using the VAT threshold mechanism, because it's a passport into the system that means it's much simpler for businesses to get our help. And one of the things we were anxious about with our fund was to get that help as rapidly as possible to businesses. One of the drawbacks of the UK help—which I appreciate is a function of the scale on which it has to operate—is that some of that help has taken a long time to reach where it is needed, and we are doing our best to get our help as fast as possible into the hands of those businesses. Being VAT registered allows us to cut out a lot of other things we may need to have asked businesses to do, to establish that they are a genuine business and therefore eligible for public funds. What we are looking to see, as part of the review, is whether there is anything we could do to address the issue that Vikki Howells has raised.

And again, thank you for what she said about free school meals. We were the first part of the United Kingdom—I've no doubt Mr Reckless will want to know why we did anything in advance of England, but we were the first part of the United Kingdom to fund and guarantee that we will provide free school meals to children in Wales during the rest of the crisis, through to September, building on the success of the holiday enrichment programme.

On the whole, coronavirus is a pretty grim experience, and a very, very sad experience for many families in Wales. But there will be some things that we will learn that are positive lessons, that we will take from this whole experience. And the way we've been able to respond to vulnerable children, and continue to offer support to them, will be one of the places we will want to look to see whether there are things we can do differently and better in the future.