Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 12:14 pm on 10 June 2020.
I thank Mick Antoniw for that question. I was very pleased last week, Llywydd, to be able to provide further details of how the scheme is to work and to be able to extend it to further groups of workers. We expect first payments to be made in this month and to continue into next month.
As far as the tax and national insurance position is concerned, let me just echo what Mick Antoniw said, Llywydd: we're not asking the UK Government for a penny towards the £32 million that we have been able to find for this purpose. We're not asking them to pay for it. All we're asking them to do is not to take money away from those workers who we intend to benefit from the scheme. So, there should be no Treasury windfall. We were discouraged by the letter we received on 2 June from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, but that letter did contain an offer for officials to continue to work together on the proposition, and on Friday of last week, following what was reported to me as a constructive meeting, our officials did submit a technical paper to HMRC, presenting the arguments we make as to why these payments should not and need not be taxable. So, we will await their response, which we hope will come as soon as possible. We're not at the end of this discussion yet and we will continue as vigorously as we can to make the case that the money that is being provided by Welsh people to those people that we have relied on for such an enormous effort during the coronavirus crisis should not result in a windfall to the Treasury.