Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 13 October 2020.
Well, Llywydd, I thank Laura Anne Jones for that. I very much recognise her starting point. Young children learn so much from other young children of their own age, and the opportunity to play and to socialise with children in that way is fundamental to them, and many families have found that those opportunities have been cut back as a result of anxiety about coronavirus and services not being able to operate in the way they previously did.
The issue of businesses just across the border from local lockdown areas is a matter that the Member raised with me, I know, last week. I promised, then, I would talk to my colleague Ken Skates about the points that she raised and I have had an opportunity to do that. And I am pleased to be able to report to her that the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales is ensuring that the sums of money we have set aside during phase 3 of the economic resilience fund, which were designed to help businesses in lockdown areas, that there will be flexibility to allow businesses just across the border who are affected by those lockdown measures to take advantage of that fund as well, and I thank her again for raising that point with me.