3. What discussions has the Minister had regarding additional support for businesses in areas of new COVID-19 restrictions, such as Llanelli? OQ55636

Can I thank the Member for her question and say that the third phase of the economic resilience fund contains £60 million to support businesses in areas that are subject to local restrictions? We'll continue to press the UK Government to take bolder steps in assuring our economic recovery and supporting future prosperity for businesses and people across the UK, including in Wales.

I'm grateful to the Minister for his answer. I'm sure he understands that in many communities across Wales, and Llanelli is one of them, many businesses, especially smaller businesses, have already suffered pretty seriously through the COVID crisis, particularly in fields like hospitality. They're working on very small margins. They won't have resources to enable them to invest in recovery.

In terms of that emergency support for those businesses affected by local restrictions, can he tell us what sort of levels of harm the business needs to be able to demonstrate it's suffered in order to be able to get the support, and can he tell us a bit more about how that support will be accessed? I'm sure that he will understand that, while larger companies may have specialist staff who can reach out to Business Wales and fill in the appropriate forms, some of the smaller local businesses will find that all a bit daunting, and I wonder if there is a role in terms of this emergency support for local government to play.

Helen Mary Jones is absolutely right: there is a key role for local authorities to play. I spoke with the spokesperson for WLGA yesterday concerning economic development and discussions have proceeded very well at an official level as well, because local government will be crucial in administering the local lockdown funds to businesses.

I can assure the Member today that, unlike in England, a business does not have to close down to get that emergency support. The criterion is relatively simple: a business must be able to demonstrate that it's seen a reduction in turnover of at least 40 per cent compared to the period prior to which restrictions were introduced. I'm confident that this support will offer businesses those bridges through restriction periods.

Each of the payments will be made on the basis of three-week waves of restrictions—three weeks being the period at which we would hope to see numbers reduce sufficiently for restrictions to be eased. We've modelled against what is possible this autumn and winter, and we are confident that we'll be able to offer two waves of support to businesses across Wales where there are restrictions.

Minister, thank you for the answer to Helen Mary Jones, because there are many businesses in the Afan valley that have been depending upon the visitor trade for mountain biking and the excellent trails up there. Therefore, that answer will help them very much because they'll see their numbers decrease, because they are a business from outside of the county borough, not necessarily from within, because we know you can travel up there quite easily.

But another sector that's been affected is the taxi drivers across Wales, in these local restrictions. They had difficulty in lockdown, but we're now facing more challenges as local restrictions are coming into place, because there are fewer people coming into the town and they're not able, necessarily, to transport people beyond the county boroughs. Are you looking at the taxi organisations? Because buses have been helped, trains have been helped, but taxi drivers are yet to be helped in this area and they are struggling now to find out their long-term viabilities.

Well, I can assure the Member that, if they're able to meet the criteria of the business development grants or the local lockdown grants, they will be able to secure the funding. But it's also worth highlighting the fact that the UK Government has an important role to play in this area, because it's the UK Government that is responsible for the self-employment income support scheme. And the Member will be aware that an extension has been announced by the Chancellor and two further grants will be made available. That is something that we very much welcome, because the self-employment support scheme has been vitally important for many, many individuals in Wales.

The first grants will be calculated at 20 per cent of three months' trading profits, up to a minimum of £1,875, and I'd encourage anybody who may be eligible for that particular fund to apply as soon as they possibly can because, unfortunately, it is still the case that many self-employed people in Wales are either unaware that they're able to apply for support or have failed to do so to date.