Item 10 on our agenda this afternoon is the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee debate on the effects of COVID-19 on Wales's economy, infrastructure and skills, and I call on the Chair of the committee to move the motion. Russell George.

Motion NDM7341 Russell George

To propose that the Senedd:

Notes the reports of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee: 'The impact of COVID-19: Summary of initial findings', which was laid in the Table Office on 4 June 2020, and 'The impact of COVID-19: Skills—early findings', which was laid in the Table Office on 19 June 2020.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I move the motion in my name. I'd like to thank the Presiding Officer for allowing this debate earlier than would have taken place in most circumstances.

Thankfully, Deputy Presiding Officer, due to the hard work of our NHS staff and because Welsh citizens have played their part and stayed at home, we have, we hope, passed the high-water mark. However, as the tide recedes, it is, of course, revealing an economic emergency, which is why I requested this earlier debate. Yesterday's announcement from Airbus is part of that unfolding emergency. I know everyone in this Chamber will want to be thinking about the people affected and will want to be reassured that the Welsh and UK Governments are straining every area to protect our key industries and the jobs that they provide. I also think about those who were affected by the Laura Ashley closures in my own constituency. Airbus, of course, is a big player in north-east Wales's skills sector, and so, as well as job losses, we'll be losing valuable training opportunities, and the pandemic and economic emergency will have an ongoing effect for the whole of Wales's skills sector and transport network, so it's important that this debate focuses on these areas as well.

Deputy Presiding Officer, the committee took evidence from a range of stakeholders, including business leaders, unions, training and transport providers on the effects of the pandemic on Wales's economy, infrastructure and skills, and we have released two reports and issued a number of letters outlining several issues that need, in our view, urgent attention. However, more positively, our work has uncovered opportunities that we as a committee think need to be seized on in order to rebuild our economy. Last month, we saw a record drop in the UK's GDP, and this drop is, of course, a natural consequence of asking people to stay at home. Ground will be regained as we come out of lockdown—of course, that is what we hope. However, even with a bounce-back, we're sadly facing an unprecedented recession. That's the sad likelihood, and, in light of this impending recession, it is vital that the Government acts swiftly to save businesses and jobs. Business leaders warned us about areas of the economy that will need more specific help than others in terms of a sectorial approach and to ensure that support is targeted correctly. A new round of business support is a good opportunity to fill in the gaps in the original COVID support. Although the original offer was very much welcomed, there were, of course, gaps especially felt by smaller businesses and microbusinesses as they fell through some of those gaps. As the Government develops its response to the recession, these businesses, we hope, as a committee, will not be failed again.

Last week's announcement about start-up funding was, of course, a step in the right direction for smaller businesses. When asked about the economy, the Minister told us that he wanted to 'build it back better'. This is a great aspiration, and, whilst the economy is in grave danger, support can be targeted to help rebalance and grow targeted sectors. To ensure that the Government is seizing this opportunity, I would like the Minister to set out what 'build it back better' means to him and what the Government will be doing to achieve this goal.

As Wales unlocks, reopening the economy in a safe way will also be key. Union representatives told the committee that they supported the Welsh Government's inclusion of the 2m rule in regulations, but they were worried about its enforcement, and the Government, I think, needs to explain how safety will be ensured, particularly in the light of the recent outbreaks we've seen at some food plants across the country. 

As the economy and skills sector are intertwined, bad news for the economy is, sadly, bad news for skills. As I come on to skills, I think I'd first like to acknowledge the key role that the health and social care apprentices have played in an effort to contain and respond to the pandemic. Witnesses were keen to tell us how apprentices had stepped up to the challenge over these last few months and how much effort they'd been putting into the national response, and I'm sure that Members would want to join me in commending these efforts. However, this additional workload will be taking a toll on apprentices' health and well-being, and the Government must support all of our apprentices through these times, and the committee heard that many apprentices have been furloughed and that some apprentices have been laid off. Being furloughed and, of course, being laid off will have consequences for their own well-being.

Looking forward to the future, I am concerned, and as a committee we were concerned, about the looming spike in youth unemployment. The committee heard evidence that employers will be looking for experience, so people leaving education this summer will be at a disadvantage in an already depressed labour market. So, as a period of unemployment is likely to scar a young person's future, the Government, I think, must intervene by developing skills support to give young people the experience they need to compete. However, there is also an opportunity here. The skills sector can be used to help stimulate economic growth and train people for high-skill and high value-added jobs.

As Wales emerges from the lockdown, maintaining safety and managing with much reduced fare revenue is going to be a huge challenge for the public transport operators. Sadly, the ONS data on coronavirus deaths shows public transport drivers are particularly at risk from the pandemic. And public confidence in safety, of course, is also important. Transport Focus's research indicates that around a third of passengers will not return to public transport until they feel safe, and, to maintain safe social distancing, buses and trains will be limited to around 10 per cent to 20 per cent of their normal capacity. In fact, bus operators told us that that means a double-decker that usually carries 70 passengers will only be able to carry 20. Taxis and private hire vehicles do not lend themselves to social distancing for obvious reasons, and union representatives felt drivers should be given black cab-style screens to protect themselves and encourage passenger confidence. Although local public transport will be operating at reduced capacity, their overheads will largely remain the same, causing financial pressures for operators. Bus operators told us that clarity on the future of funding for public transport providers is urgently needed. Transport Focus's polling said that nearly half of public transport users are planning to use their cars more, so I think this is a real issue to the committee. Public confidence in services and public transport capacity will be a key to avoid increased congestion and carbon dioxide emissions and reduced air quality, and a short-term switch to car travel would become regular behaviour. However, as with the economy and skills sector, there are also opportunities here as well. People are open to the idea of active travel. I think we've all seen many more people walking and running and cycling during the lockdown period. Bike shops are selling out across the UK and Europe, so the Government needs to act to maintain that momentum and support the modal change to ensure that as many people as possible choose active travel over their cars.

To sum up my opening comments, Deputy Presiding Officer, although the health emergency is, we hope, under control, it has been replaced by an economic emergency and the Government must spend as much effort tackling that as the virus. Whilst I support the Minister's aspiration to build back better, we really need to see details of what that actually means. These are truly unprecedented times and we are presented with a huge challenge. However, with that challenge comes a unique set of opportunities to redesign our economy, our transport network and our skills sector for the better, and the Government of course must seize these opportunities. I look forward to the contribution from Members this afternoon.

I thank the committee for their reports, as they've shone a helpful light on the economic response to the COVID crisis from the Welsh Government and the UK Government, and also how partners, like local government and Business Wales, have really stepped up to help businesses and employers and employees through these unprecedented and difficult times. It is worth noting, of course, that our Government in Wales has really stepped up to the mark, providing the most generous package of support across the UK and trying to fill some of the gaps left by the UK Government support. This has really shown the positive difference that devolution can make, though we do still have gaps. In respect of the UK Government's support and putting aside the gaps, we have to acknowledge the scale of investment, not least in the furlough scheme, but I'd strongly urge our Welsh Government Ministers to join other devolved Governments and, indeed, the UK Labour frontbench calls for extending the furlough and support for particular sectors, including, by the way, aviation, but also parts of our tourism and hospitality sectors, and our arts and cultural sectors, too.

Now, this is the moment when the Prime Minister needs to show that he really is a Prime Minister for the whole of the United Kingdom, not just a Prime Minister for England. The 'Build, build, build' programme announced this week is small, small, small and, indeed, is currently England, England, England only. So, I hope the Prime Minister will take the opportunity to work with Welsh Government to identify Welsh priorities for UK investment right now in Wales, including support for aviation, and that should include, as well, major long overdue UK investment in steel, in Wales marine and tidal renewables, and in a new generation of automotive production and more. It should make good the decade-long UK underinvestment in rail infrastructure in Wales, and support for Welsh Government to boost the skills and apprenticeships and job schemes for young people in Wales and much more. There is a real opportunity for the UK Government.

This is a time for bold decisions on the scale of the post-war Attlee Labour Government and with all Governments across the UK working together. Indeed, let us have that UK COVID response emergency budget before the summer break, which can respond to the scale of the crisis and also give the Prime Minister the real opportunity to show that Wales is not some afterthought from a desk in Westminster.

Now, returning to the current support for business and jobs, the committee has done sterling work in identifying the gaps, and I recognise these from my own constituency cases, including that of Chris, who runs a gym. He took over a derelict former club, turned it into a home not just for the gym, but for a thriving group of families with children with special needs, and as the base for a local football club and more. But he's missed out on all the support, including the recent welcome changes that drop the VAT threshold to £50,000. It left him just a few thousand pounds short of the threshold for qualifying. So, I just wonder, Minister, if there can be some flexibility for Business Wales to work with small businesses that they know, to avoid these heartbreaking narrow misses?

In giving evidence to the committee, some of the obvious gaps that were highlighted included the self-employed people who didn't have recent accounts, businesses that don't operate out of a property as such and companies that are not VAT registered. I know that Welsh Government has continued to tweak and adjust the support to respond to some of these gaps, and I'd be grateful if Ministers could keep on listening, keep being flexible, to respond to these ongoing concerns, but also to keep engaging with the UK Treasury to respond to and fill these gaps on a UK-wide basis. The UK Treasury has incredibly deep pockets, and, indeed, they've recently discovered the location of the allusive magic money tree, which Conservative Chancellors argued for a decade of austerity simply did not exist. I'm glad they've found it. 

We've just experienced the sharpest economic downturn since the third quarter of 1979. The Bank of England economist Andy Haldane suggests that we could be on track for a v-shaped recovery with faster than expected regrowth, although he wraps his projection with many, many economic health warnings. It could go very differently indeed.

We certainly now know already that places that have faced long-term structural challenges—deep-seated social and economic disadvantage—will be the most vulnerable. So, we need the investment hereon to redouble its focus on those areas, including those places and people in my constituency of Ogmore, where the benefits will be greatest for the poorest of investment, where we can lift people the highest, and where we level up through activist Government intervention, rather than the free market devil take the hindmost. So, let's make this COVID economic response one that levels up across the UK, levels up in Wales and levels up in Ogmore, with Governments at all levels playing their part. I thank the committee for their reports, because they are useful in directing some of those efforts. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.

The Wales Tourism Alliance, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales and CBI Wales told the committee that the tourism and hospitality industries would be disproportionately affected. I submitted an urgent written question to the First Minister on 30 April, asking him to respond to calls for a specific plan to support tourism businesses in Wales and for consideration to be given to models of international best practice that would help our rural and coastal tourism businesses to survive. Other than a holding response, no reply has yet been received.

The Wales Tourism Alliance told the committee that, although the support provided by Government at all levels had been quite generous, some businesses have fallen through the gaps, particularly wedding venues, bed and breakfasts and guest accommodation. Small bed and breakfasts are a mainstay of many local economies across north Wales—real businesses providing essential income for their owners. However, they have been unable to access the Welsh Government's £10,000 business grant, because the criteria states that they must be eligible for small business rates relief, but the rules say that they cannot be unless they provide accommodation for more than six persons.

When I questioned the economy Minister about this, he stated that the eligibility criteria checker for the second phase of the economic resilience fund, for new applications, would open mid-June. Having got their hopes up, when it opened, bed and breakfast businesses told me that, according to the checker, they were still not eligible. When I again questioned the economy Minister about this, he stated that he would have to understand why they were not eligible. I therefore wrote to him with evidence from legitimate bed and breakfast businesses in north Wales, detailing their ineligibility for this or any other scheme. In his reply last week, he claimed that the support package in Wales is the most comprehensive and generous in the UK. In reality, grants are available to bed and breakfast operators in England and Scotland who did not qualify for any other COVID-19 grant support schemes, but operators in Wales have been denied access to equivalent grants. As one told me:

'We're already £7,400 in debt in the past three months, and we've lost out on around £28,000' worth of sales in this time. This is a total emergency and grant help is needed.'

The Wales Tourism Alliance told the committee that changed Welsh Government requirements for self-catering properties to qualify for business grants were being used to penalise bona fide businesses. Although the local government Minister told Members that, if a self-catering business can prove that they are a legitimate business, the authority has the discretion to pay the grant, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales stated that some local authorities have been sending e-mails out, saying, 'This isn't discretionary. We've been mandated to do this by Welsh Government.'

I was contacted by a large number of legitimate holiday letting businesses whose experience with this was causing real hardship. They wrote that the guidance from the Welsh Government clearly discriminates against holiday letting businesses, and that there was no consultation with the industry. I have since successfully represented many of these businesses in north-west Wales, although it took interventions over many weeks before councils reviewed their applications and used their discretion to award them business grants.

Then, two weeks ago, I was contacted by a legitimate holiday letting business in Flintshire that had been told that their grant application had been unsuccessful because all of the Welsh Government's additional qualifying criteria have to be met. You must despair.

The committee's recommendation that the Welsh Government should revisit changes made to the guidance for non-domestic business rate relief and ensure that they are neither penalising legitimate businesses nor increasing the workload on local authorities is therefore pivotal.

On 15 May, the Confederation of Passenger Transport presented a proposal to Welsh Government that would enable operators to ramp up bus services with full costings for all Welsh bus operators. In correspondence last week, however, the industry states that they have still not received a considered official response, and Wales is now the only country in the United Kingdom that has not agreed funding for transport operators to begin to ramp up services to cover costs for additional services.

The committee's recommendation that the Welsh Government should inform the committee of its assessment of the current availability of buses and trains in Wales and whether this is sufficient to ensure effective socially distanced public transport services can be provided and give details of any action being taken to ensure that there is sufficient capacity is therefore also pivotal.

I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the evidence sessions that have led to this report, and, like other Members, I'm very grateful for the evidence that we've received. I think we must be fair and say—. At the beginning of my contribution, I want to say that the emergency response that the Welsh Government has taken was broadly welcomed by most of our witnesses. Of course, things aren't perfect; there was an acknowledgement that there were gaps, and I think the Minister understands that himself. But there was a sense that there had been some real co-operation with the sector and with social partners and that this had been something of a—to use a bit of a cliché—team Wales effort. But, I know that the Minister understands that there is a lot more to do, and our evidence proves that. 

I want today, Dirprwy Lywydd, to make some general comments in response to the three reports and then to highlight some particular things in the areas of skills. We know—the evidence was really clear to us—that there are going to be some businesses that will require longer term support. Those might include some transport providers, they will certainly include some hospitality businesses, that may not be able to partially open or may not be able to open profitably. They will certainly include businesses in the culture sector, things like cinemas and theatres where, again, even if social distancing allows them to open, they can't open and make any money, and that will apply to some other tourist attractions too.

It's really important for these businesses—they acknowledge that they've received, many of them, short-term support—to know now what the longer term plans are so that they can plan. And I'm sure that none of us in this Senedd would want to lose some of those crucial parts of our tourism and hospitality infrastructure that will be so important for our economy as we recover. 

We acknowledge, of course, that some of that support should come from the UK Government, and I want to ask the Minister again today about what progress he's had in asking for more flexible furlough support for some of those businesses that might not otherwise survive, that can't open, and particularly whether he can raise again the issue of those people who were changing jobs at the time. If there are to be changes to the furlough scheme, that would be the time to give some kind of recompense to the new-start furlough citizens who just were so unfortunate to be changing jobs at that time. 

Looking further at hospitality businesses, we have, of course, supported Welsh Government's cautious approach to lifting the lockdown. We feel that it's the right thing to do. From the point of view of businesses, it would, of course, have been catastrophic to lift the lockdown too quickly and then see a spike and lead to another lockdown again. But I hope that the Minister understands that it's very difficult for some of the business owners that have been talking to me in recent days to see that McDonald's is open and people are eating their meals in the McDonald's car park and sometimes leaving a hideous mess afterwards, but good-quality local Welsh hospitality businesses have yet to be able to take advantage of those opportunities that some outside opening may be able to provide. 

I know that the Minister is aware that local authorities are looking at how they might facilitate this with road closures, with extensions of pavements. I've been speaking, for example, to Ceredigion council. There is, of course, a complex pattern around licensing and around planning, and I want to ask the Minister today to commit to working closely with local authorities so that we can open up some of those spaces, while of course acknowledging the points that the First Minister made earlier—that that has to be done in such a way that doesn't, for example, negatively impact on people who are blind and partially sighted.

If I might briefly turn, then, Dirprwy Lywydd, to some of the points in the skills report specifically. Russell George has already referred to our recommendation around health and care apprentices. What those people, many of them young people, have done in the last few months is nothing short of extraordinary, and we do want to ask the Welsh Government to be aware of the need to protect their welfare and to ensure that they are given the support they need to get over what might, for some of them, have been complex and traumatic.

Recommendations 3 and 4 of the skills report that focus on work experience and youth unemployment are incredibly important. Those of us who are old enough to remember what happened to the Welsh economy in the 1980s will remember that there was a whole lost generation in many of our communities, who, having had a year or 18 months out of work, never really recovered, never made up that economic gap. We must not allow that to happen to those individuals, but we also cannot afford, as a nation, to waste those talents. That's therefore incredibly important that Welsh Government come forward with some really far-reaching schemes to address those issues.

Our recommendation 8 asks the Welsh Government to link up the skills agenda to economic development, to business support, and to business improvement, and, of course, crucially, to the fair work agenda. This is what needs to change now. The Welsh Government has done, I think, on the whole, a pretty good job in terms of emergency response, but now we have to, as the Minister often says, build back better, and that means building up in a joined-up manner.

I would say, Dirprwy Lywydd, that this crisis has shown us who we actually need when it comes to our workforce. We need carers, we've needed shop workers, we've needed delivery drivers, we've needed healthcare staff. Much of this, of course, work that tends to be done by women. Now, we've tended, in the past, to refer to those people as 'low skilled', and I don't know if anybody else in this Chamber has had the opportunity of looking after a sick or disabled relative themselves, but I can certainly tell you that the people—on the whole, women—who do that work are anything other than low skilled, having tried to do it myself to support family members. We need to change—

Can you come to a conclusion, please?

 My apologies, Dirprwy Lywydd.

No, no, it's fine. Carry on.

We need to ensure that we change our mindset there, and when we talk about building back better, we've talked a lot about big infrastructure projects, but we also need to think about that work, that work that women do—the caring, the shop work, all of that. We need to value that work, we need to upskill those workers, and we need to pay them a decent living wage.

The Minister will have heard the evidence given by Chwarae Teg and others to the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee yesterday, and I hope that he'll commit today to building a more equal society for women and a more equal economy for women being at the centre of his rebuilding plans.

I have other things to say, but the Dirprwy Lywydd has quite rightly ran out of patience. So, I'll draw my remarks to a close by once again saying how glad I am to have participated in this process and to commend these reports to the Senedd.

Thank you very much. Rhianon Passmore.

Thank you, Deputy Llywydd. I read with both alarm and agreement that the committee has considerable concerns about what it sees as one of the defining longer term challenges of this deadly pandemic: a likely dramatic spike in youth unemployment, a spike that, without action by Welsh Government, threatens to scar and stunt the employment prospects of a generation of young people and frustrate the national recovery.

Sadly, this is not new to us. As the Member for Islwyn, I know that the spectre of mass youth unemployment will ascend—[Inaudible.]—throughout the communities that I represent. I was politicised as a teenager by the devastation that was brought to us by the callous Tory economic policies of the Thatcher Government. I was sent to this Senedd by the people of Islwyn, following the ongoing devastation brought to the Islwyn valleys by the continuation of Thatcherite policies under the smokescreen of austerity, and the cruel and callous disinvestment ideology of the anti-public sector Cameron Government, well criticised by the United Nations.

So, today, Islwyn faces a future potentiality of further economic hardship from the callous C-19 pandemic and the trade drop-off of EU exit. As such, it is imperative that the UK Government does not slash and burn public services and its funding in dealing with the deficit post C-19.

Deputy Llywydd, I support the committee's third recommendation, namely that the

'Welsh Government must take action to ensure high quality structured work experience opportunities, especially for people from deprived backgrounds, are part of Wales’ recovery plan.'

As Professor Ewart Keep from the department of education at Oxford warned the committee, the 'huge looming issue' of youth unemployment as tens of thousands of college and university students graduate this summer is stark. These young people face a labour market that has seen a collapse in demand, with a third of Wales's workforce furloughed or taking advantage of the Government's self-employment assistance scheme.

Deputy Llywydd, while on some key matters there may be consensus in the Senedd, there remains a critical and fundamental need for an effective inter-governmental systemic mechanism for the devolved nations. This missing infrastructure has never been more needed. Without effective working between the UK Government and the Welsh Government, and the UK then investing to meet the real needs of the people of Wales, we will once again return to a forgotten generation of young women and men. It is right that the Welsh Government is firmly requesting of the UK Treasury that the needs of Wales are met, both now during this pandemic, but also with mechanisms for the future, sustainable for future pandemics, crises and times of national challenge. And in parallel to the multiplicity of current Welsh Government interventions and Wales-only support packages during COVID, it is clear that Wales's First Minister and Minister for economy have a clear direction, drive and determination to both safeguard and protect the health and economic needs of our people to ensure that Wales is a place where nobody is left behind, and when the storm of COVID leaves us, a brighter, healthier and greener Wales is rebuilt, revealed and rediscovered. Diolch.

Can I first congratulate the Chair and the members of the EIS committee for their work in identifying the necessary steps that may be necessary to restart and reinvigorate the economy post COVID-19, which are contained in all of their 34 recommendations? Before I go into the report, I wish to make the point that we are still unaware of the situation surrounding the co-prosperity fund. That fund will supposedly take the place of the EU structural fund. As this fund will play a major part in how Wales will recover from the COVID crisis, we must all in this Chamber support the Minister in his efforts to secure a commitment from the UK Government as to how and when these funds will be allocated.

The report acknowledges that there has been broad-based support for the actions taken by both the UK and Welsh Governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, they pointed out the comment from Josh Miles from the Federation of Small Businesses that, thankfully, we had the Development Bank of Wales and Business Wales, which were able to respond quickly and effectively to the crisis.

There should be no doubt that COVID-19 may change the way we live and work forever, but we just do not know at this time by exactly how much. We must realise that, with so many imponderables, it is difficult for any Government to plan future economic strategies. The Minister for the economy has stated that the big strategic aims of fair work, decarbonisation, reducing regional economic inequalities have not changed, but we know some things will have to change, and it is important that these are identified and discussed and acted upon as soon as possible.

Wales has the highest proportion of businesses applying for the CJRS and the highest proportion of buy-in for UK Government schemes. Sadly, Wales and its people will once again be one of the regions that may suffer some of the highest number of job losses due to the pandemic.

There is one area, however, where I believe the Welsh Government could look to implement recovery strategies at this present time. It is said that upgrading of skills is one of the fastest ways of ensuring those who have lost their jobs will not stay unemployed for long periods. We believe the Welsh Government should, with urgency, look to establishing large-scale training centres. I would ask the Government to look at facilities at St Athan, where suitable buildings and even accommodation are available as the Ministry of Defence scales down its operations on the site. The Welsh Government could look to establish a Welsh national skills centre, building on, not replacing, those facilities that already exist. This could put Wales at the forefront of a revolution in providing skilled people ready work in the high-skilled sector. Such a high-profile facility would help attract investors in the high-tech industries, building, of course, on the establishment of the Aston Martin facility in St Athan.

So, can I add my own recommendation to the 34 already outlined by the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee? Build a high-tech centre for vocational skills, if not at St Athan, then in some other part of Wales. 

Thank you. Alun Davies.

I'm grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I'm grateful to the committee as well for the work that it's been doing on this. I think all of us have enjoyed the opportunity of reading through the reports of the committee and are grateful to both them and the staff and witnesses for the contributions that they've made.

We need to look hard at how we're going to ensure that the economic shock that we are seeing at the moment isn't simply an economic shock again for the poorest people in this country. We've seen from previous recessions that it is the poorest people, the poorest communities, that suffer the worst impact of these recessions, and we've seen economic shocks in the past have a dramatic impact on not simply the people who live in these communities today, but their children and grandchildren as well. Generations, as I think has already been described, are still feeling the effect of Thatcher's war against the Valleys of south Wales. We need to be able to look hard at how we do that. We are seeing at the moment the headlines of some really terrible job losses, and we've been discussing Airbus already today. But we're also seeing job losses taking place on a daily basis—smaller in number, but an enormous number of people and families and communities affected. I've seen in my own constituency numbers of people who are already being threatened with redundancy. The impact of COVID isn't going to be seen in the autumn—it's already being seen today.

I agree very much with the points that Huw Irranca-Davies made about the UK Government needing to extend the furlough scheme into the autumn. And I think we've all agreed, over the past two months, that the economic impact of UK Government schemes is something that we have appreciated, and it's been good to see the Welsh and UK Governments working together over the previous months. In that context, the Prime Minister's speech yesterday was all the more disappointing. It seemed to be a UK Government walking away from the people of this country, unable and unwilling to deliver the support that business and industry need. No cash in Wales, no investment for Wales, not a care for Wales—walking away from our key industries, our key employers and our people at a time when they needed that support.

So, I want to see the Welsh Government stepping up to the mark. We did it after the 2008 recession, of course, and saved many tens of thousands of jobs, and we need a real new deal, not the fake new deal that the UK Government were talking about yesterday, but a deal with the ambition and the vision that will invest in people and places. We need to see, I believe, for the Heads of the Valleys, for example, a jobs plan, an industrial strategy for the Heads of the Valleys, delivering on some of the conversations that we've already had, Minister, through the Tech Valleys scheme, investing in the strategic sites, whether it's Rhyd y Blew or Rassau or any of the other industrial estates across the A465 corridor—a jobs plan that brings together the skills and training with investment in connectivity. It's finally time that rail infrastructure was devolved. We saw yesterday that the UK Government are simply not going to invest in our railways. We need to do it ourselves and we need to ensure the devolution of rail infrastructure to let us do that.

But let me say this, Minister: I very much agree with what the Welsh Government's saying about 'build back better', but we need to have something left to build back upon, and we need to be able to have a clear priority—jobs, jobs, jobs. We need to protect existing employment. We need to protect our existing industrial base. We need to be able to protect town centres and industrial estates together. This is the biggest challenge we've faced as a Senedd, as a parliamentary democracy, in 20 years, the biggest challenge the Welsh Government has faced in two decades, and we need the ambition, the vision and the agility to meet that challenge. I want to see the Welsh Government using all the financial instruments and tools available to it, together with that rooted commitment to our communities. I've seen the Minister walk and stride through communities in his own constituency in north Wales and mine in the Valleys of south Wales. I know his commitment to those places and I know his commitment to our people. This is the challenge now, to make that commitment real. 

The first thing that I want to say as a member of the committee was we heard overwhelming support from the Federation of Small Businesses, the Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of British Industry as to their satisfaction with the level of engagement with the Welsh Government and Welsh officials—I think it's worth saying that at the outset—and all the work that went behind that, in making sure that all the numerous schemes that were put into place immediately, in a very, very short time frame, were put forward through mechanisms that people could both apply to and receive the funds from that.

I'm not going to rehearse all the gaps that we've heard about; other people have already done that. But I listened closely yesterday to this 'build, build, build' announcement from the UK Government and immediately the one thing that struck me, apart from the very obvious that there are no consequentials so therefore there's no new money, so there's no care for Wales, was this old-fashioned idea again that you can bring out of a crisis jobs that actually only look at, really, one sector of the economy, and therefore you miss large numbers of people who need help out of those schemes immediately. And it's fairly obvious, if you look at the stats on construction, that means women will be left behind, because they don't feature in that economy anyway. The highest figure you will find is 11 per cent and, on site, it's simply 1 per cent. So, that isn't actually going to build much in the way of employment for those people outside of that.

Having said all of that, we have seen, in the very recent past, the agility of companies in Wales to step up and immediately put in processes and systems to deliver those things that we've needed, from ventilators to masks, or handwashes. So, they've been innovative and they've been fleet of foot in that innovation, and I think it's alluded to here in these recommendations. It's that, I think, that we could do to drive the economy forward as we come out.

The other sector, of course, that's been fleet of foot—and it's not capital investment that's needed—is the care sector, and Helen Mary quite rightly pointed to that. Evidence is already emerging about the impact of coronavirus on some individuals, and the ongoing care needs that those individuals will have. And that, really, is just in the first wave. I'm not wishing for a second wave; nobody is. But if we see a repeat of that, unfortunately we're also going to see greater needs within the care sector. So, we need some revenue investment as well as capital investment to take us out and take us forward. And it has been noted—quite rightly noted—that those are the people that we ultimately need to take society forward in times of extreme need. It is the case that they've been undervalued in the past, both within society's ways of thinking about people in the care sector but also in the remuneration that they've received for doing those jobs. So, I suppose my plea to you today, going forward, is to look for those individuals in terms of their training, their status, and let's not—. When we're talking about building back better, let's at least understand that those people who need us to build back better for them in their employment actually receive that recognition in all aspects. 

And, of course, the other area that would have been addressed now, but it isn't, because we're in this particular time and space, is the bus services in Wales. There would have been a Bill finding its way through the Welsh Parliament at the moment, and there would have been many more people journeying through particularly my area in Wales on buses. That, sadly, is not the case at the moment, and, whilst I am really concerned that we don't leave people behind, I'm equally concerned that we don't literally leave them behind, stuck in rural Wales with no form of transport, because so many people— particularly people who don't have funds and young people, disabled people, elderly residents and free bus pass holders—rely on that mode of transport. 

Can you come to a conclusion, please?

Thank you. I am. 

Good.

So, I would request an update, really, Minister, on your thinking, if you can't deliver that Bill, on what you're going to do regarding bus services or public transport in mid and west Wales. 

Thank you. Can I now call the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates?

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and can I begin by thanking the committee Chair, Russell George, and its members for its work producing both incredibly valuable reports? And I'd also like to thank those who were able to provide evidence via video link in what has become, of course, the new norm for holding meetings at present. Of course, ordinarily, the Welsh Government would have formally responded to committee reports ahead of debates, but I recognise that the will to debate these important reports ahead of recess means that the Government will not be able to formally respond until next month, as requested. 

There are 42 recommendations in total across both reports, so, unfortunately, I'll be unable to cover every one of them but, Deputy Presiding Officer, what I would say is that I think it's valuable reading both reports alongside the recently published UK Treasury Committee report on the UK Government's support for businesses and the economy, because there is some parallel concern across all three reports. 

Dirprwy Lywydd, and committee members, what I can say regarding the two reports that have been produced by the EIS committee is that we have acted swiftly and decisively to help protect Welsh businesses from the impact of coronavirus. Our £1.7 billion business support package—it's the equivalent of 2.6 per cent of our gross value added—complements other UK schemes, and it means that companies in Wales have access to the most generous offer of help anywhere in the United Kingdom, as Huw Irranca-Davies identified.

We deliberately designed our Wales-only £500 million economic resilience fund to plug the gaps left by the UK Government's package of business support, and this is because we want to support as many businesses, as many jobs, as we can possibly do so during this incredibly challenging time. 

We also know that our approach is working. Data from a recent Office for National Statistics survey indicates that, of all of the UK nations, Wales has by far—by far—the highest percentage of businesses to have applied for and accessed coronavirus-related business grants. The survey found that the figure for businesses accessing support in Wales is 32 per cent of the 260,000 businesses that we have. That contrasts with just 14 per cent of businesses accessing direct Government support in England, 21 per cent in Scotland and 24 per cent in Northern Ireland.

So, as a result of the £0.5 billion economic resilience fund, including, of course, Development Bank of Wales support, we've been able to help close to 8,000 businesses with more than £200 million of support that simply wouldn't have been available elsewhere, and that has led to tens of thousands of jobs being saved. Now, on Monday, we reopened the next phase of the economic resilience fund, providing more opportunities for microbusinesses, small and medium-sized enterprises and large businesses to apply for funding. We'll also be extending our support to non-VAT-registered companies and businesses that started after March 2019. 

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Now, with regard to Mark Isherwood's question about support for the tourism sector, I can confirm that, through the first phase of the economic resilience fund, more than £11 million of support has been provided to tourism and hospitality businesses. It's saved more than 4,000 jobs, and that support would not have been available elsewhere in the UK. And we're also providing £5 million specifically to support start-up firms that have yet to be helped by the UK Government's self-employment support scheme. Now, our grant scheme, which was launched just last week, will support 2,000 start-ups with grants of £2,500 each, and, of course, this comes ahead of the UK Government formally responding to the UK Treasury Committee's recommendations for filling those gaps that EIS members have identified. And I think this is a really important point, because there are still many gaps that exist right across the UK and which require the attention of UK Government, including, for example, the need to lengthen the job retention scheme for specific sectors—for tourism, culture and aerospace—and those gaps were highlighted by many Members, including Helen Mary Jones and Mark Isherwood. 

Now, the JRS, the job retention scheme, has been a lifeline for many businesses, but the UK Government must—absolutely must— avoid a cliff edge when it comes to ending the furlough and self-employment schemes. And I think that we would all accept that the full impact of coronavirus on the economy will not be revealed until the autumn, when these are scheduled to be wound down. Now, yesterday, we also heard, as Members have pointed out, the Prime Minister re-announce various infrastructure projects, and adopt the promise that we have been making for some months to build back better. Now, to us in Welsh Government, that means investing in green, fair growth. It means investing in businesses that commit to the economic contract that we now have with thousands upon thousands of enterprises in Wales. It means doing precisely as Alun Davies has articulated, in investing in places that need levering up, investing in people who have not enjoyed the fruits of growth during the period of de-industrialisation. It means creating, in my view, a gender-neutral political economy that is less white and less favourable to people and places that are already affluent and powerful. And building back better also means building a future together. And I've been incredibly grateful for the ideas and the advice from Members across the Chamber.

Now, as Rhianon Passmore said, the recovery cannot see a return of austerity measures. Conversely, the recovery should see multiple benefits stem from a green-led economic recovery, one that creates local jobs, contributes to decarbonisation, builds a foundational economy, provides skills, tackles fuel poverty, and provides better, greener homes. However, we must equally recognise that there is a crucial need for a people-based recovery in the face of significant expected unemployment, underemployment and economic inactivity in Wales and across the UK over the next 12 months. And, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, we're developing a comprehensive package of support that will allow people to upskill and find new employment, so we can protect a generation from the scarring effects of unemployment. And we're ready to use £40 million of economic resilience funding to do just this.

I think we'll also need to refashion and reprioritise the apprenticeship programme, further education and university offerings, and the committee notes the action taken to ensure the financial stability of the apprenticeship network, and I very much welcome this. It's enabled training providers to respond positively to the COVID crisis, introducing online learning and keeping-in-touch strategies. Enabling apprenticeship recruitment is integral to the recovery, like considering a comprehensive suite of support for people facing redundancy, those made unemployed, and employees needing to upskill. This includes offering access to working well services for individuals, to give them advice and guidance on a range of opportunities available to them, and to help them overcome whatever personal challenges and barriers they face in finding and securing work.

We'll increase access to personalised learning accounts and support through our ReAct and employability skills programmes, as well as our Jobs Growth Wales programme, which provides valuable work opportunities for young people who may not have relevant work experience. And, as a number of Members have identified this afternoon, young people have been identified as the most at risk of long-term unemployment as a result of coronavirus. So, our investment will naturally be prioritised for under-25s. We'll also prioritise support for those furthest from the labour market, including disabled people, those with low skills, and individuals from a BAME background. Now, to date, our community employability programmes have supported 48,000 people, 18,000 of whom have moved into employment, and, in response to coronavirus, delivery has been adapted to help 400 people find employment since April of this year.

Our regional skills partnerships continue to provide us with a strategic regional view of priorities for skills, based on labour market intelligence and informed by employer need. And we've commissioned these partnerships to produce bi-monthly reports to capture employer-led intelligence across the regions of Wales to provide insight into the impact of coronavirus across sectors and industry clusters.

And, just briefly, the ambition of Welsh Government remains to create a sustainable, integrated public transport network, including community transport, as Joyce Watson has identified, right across Wales. We've already spent £29 million on a hardship fund for the bus sector, helping operators to maintain core services. And the recent announcement by my colleague, the Deputy Minister, confirming initial funding of £15.4 million to local authorities to introduce measures to improve the safety and conditions for sustainable and active travel modes in response to the coronavirus crisis demonstrates our prompt intent.

Llywydd, as mentioned earlier, I look forward to formally responding in full next month, but, in the meantime, I would like to thank again all Members for their contributions.

Thank you. Russell George, the committee Chair, to reply to the debate. Russell George.

Thank you, Llywydd, and can I thank all Members who took part in this debate today? It's particularly good that Members who are not part of our committee took part in this debate, and I just thought that showed how important it was that we had this debate perhaps earlier than we would perhaps have expected in the past.

I particularly thought Huw Irranca-Davies's comments were correct around devolution. Devolution presents us with the opportunity of reacting to Wales-specific needs—that's what devolution is intended to do. And, as Huw Irranca said that, I thought about how Wales is a small business economy, and how we need to support small businesses, in perhaps particularly a different way to perhaps how businesses may be supported in other parts of the UK.

Can I also thank others who took part in the debate as well, as I look through my notes? Mark Isherwood correctly pointed out the need for speed, in terms of support from Welsh Government and local authorities—something that, in evidence to our committee, was highlighted by a number of witnesses. And the holiday let sector as well was something that was raised quite extensively with our committee, which we've incorporated into our report. Mark Isherwood also pointed out that support for the bus industry is vital, and we are still waiting for confirmation from Welsh Government in terms of details for the level of support towards the bus industry. And, since this report was published, we have since taken this matter up with the Minister separately.

Helen Mary Jones, of course, points out about the long-term plan being important across the board, and points out correctly the issues about the potential youth unemployment issue that is, sadly, looming. Professor Keep gave us evidence, and gave us the stark warning of huge issues looming. And I think the issue in terms of youth unemployment is something that is going to be particularly important to our committee work going forward.

David Rowlands—thank you for your contribution. You correctly pointed out issues around the need for more clarity around the shared prosperity funds—that's quite right. And you also, David, acknowledged the good work of the Development Bank of Wales and Business Wales, and I think we've acknowledged that in our report. It is also right to say and put on record the thanks to all the staff working in both those organisations, who have no doubt been under considerable pressure over the recent time.

Alun Davies correctly pointing out, of course, that it's often the poorest people who are hit during this particular pandemic, and correctly talking about the size of the challenge. I think you referred to the biggest challenge perhaps even since devolution. But what did strike me was what you said, Alun, in terms of building back better: to do that, you do need to have something to build back upon.

And I thank Joyce Watson for her contribution. I think Helen Mary Jones also highlighted these issues in terms of being fair in terms of where support is targeted. We know that the construction industry and infrastructure projects are often focused towards men, and care work is towards women, and we've got to be fair about how Government support is levelled.

Looking through my notes, I think I should also say that I'm very grateful to the Minister for making sure that he has had his diary free to come to committee when we've asked him to. So, I thank the Minister for that. It was quite a comprehensive report. David Rowlands, I think, pointed out that we had 34 recommendations in total. But I should like to thank all the witnesses who gave evidence, both verbally and in writing, to us, and I should also like to point out thanks for the excellent support from the committee team and the research staff, as well as the support from the IT and broadcasting teams and their wider support also, who provided excellent support for us. So, can I thank all who contributed towards our debate this afternoon? Thank you very much. Diolch yn fawr.

The proposal is to note the committee's report. Does any Member object? I don't see or hear any objections, and therefore, the motion is agreed.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.