Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 7 October 2020.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:49, 7 October 2020

Can I thank the Member for his questions? First of all, on the point regarding the letter that we sent out, I make no apology whatsoever for my commitment to working with employers and trade unions to change people's working lives for the better. Nobody is trying to coerce any individual or any business, but we are promoting a 'something for something' relationship between the public and people and businesses who receive taxpayers' money in the form of grants or loans that are favourable. And it's about making sure that we move to a point where we collaborate more, we don't just co-exist as Government and businesses, where we work together on employment opportunities. And I really must say that the role of the unions in promoting better health—and particularly better mental health—in the workplace is vitally important. We know just how much of an impact poor mental health—poor health in general, poor well-being—has on productivity rates. Trade unions help businesses overcome those problems, and I just look to Airbus as a perfect example of how, when you have strong union partnership with management, you can achieve great things. For decades, they have had there strong union partnership between management and the unions, primarily Unite, and, as a consequence of that, they have fought as one for new projects—new wings, new research and innovation, more investment centrally from Toulouse. So, I'd encourage the Member to move on from a 1980s, jaundiced view of trade unions and recognise that social partnership has enormous value in the twenty-first century.

Now, in terms of tourism and hospitality businesses, what would be cataclysmic for tourism and hospitality is failure to get coronavirus under control. And that's why we have taken action early to bring down those numbers swifter, so that the restrictions, hopefully, can be eased or removed quicker. And in terms of getting business support out of the drawer fast, I think our local authorities did a remarkable job in administering the grants for tens of thousands of businesses across Wales, putting many councils across the border, actually, to shame in terms of the speed in which they were able to administer them.

And I must remind Members again that what we are offering through the economic resilience fund is the most generous and comprehensive package of support anywhere in the United Kingdom—so far, it's secured more than 100,000 jobs; it has helped more than 13,000 businesses—which, if they were based in England, they would not have benefited from.