3. How is the Welsh Government supporting businesses in North Wales to reopen as a result of the coronavirus pandemic? OQ55446

We're doing everything possible to support businesses as they gradually reopen. We're providing comprehensive advice, guidance and support through our Business Wales service and the Welsh Government website. We've also supported almost 2,000 north Wales businesses through the first round of our economic resilience fund, totalling more than £33 million.

Wedding businesspeople tell me time is very quickly running out for wedding venues and the wedding industry as a whole. In a survey of Welsh wedding venues, 86 per cent said that clarity and a roadmap or timetable was of utmost importance to the survival of their business. Virtually every other sector has been given permission to open up, and large indoor wedding celebrations are allowed throughout most of Europe, and now even Northern Ireland. They said that without an announcement very quickly the situation for many venues will be irrecoverable. They said, 'I find the apparent lack of interest in the wedding industry in Wales absolutely extraordinary' and they said, 'We just don't have the time left to talk endlessly with no result.' There are so many jobs and businesses on the line, and yet with the correct management and messaging, they could all so easily be saved. How do you respond to them?

I'd say to the Member that we are acutely aware of the difficulties facing wedding venues, and I'd refer the Member to comments made by the finance Minister, the business Minister, just earlier. But I would also say to the Member that, as a direct result of having a Welsh Government, and having a Wales-only economic resilience fund, tens of millions of pounds—approximately £55 million, to be accurate—has been applied for by businesses in north Wales. In terms of hospitality businesses, more than £5.5 million has been awarded to hundreds of businesses in north Wales that simply would not have been able to get that support if they existed in England. We are going above and beyond what the UK Government is doing in England.