Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 11 November 2020.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:49, 11 November 2020

Can I thank Helen Mary Jones for her question and also welcome the incredibly valuable conversations that we've had during the course of the pandemic, and that we've had with other opposition spokespeople as well? Your input has been hugely important in helping to shape the Welsh Government's response to the economic crisis. And, of course, some of those sectors and sub-sectors that you've identified to date will undoubtedly bounce back quite rapidly when—hopefully—an array of vaccines are deployed. What's required in the meantime is the support to cover various other fixed costs over and above labour costs. Of course, the furlough scheme's extension is very welcome, but the point of the local lockdown business fund is to make sure that we provide emergency cash to support businesses in paying those other costs, whether it be rent, heat and so forth, and we will utilise the fourth phase of the economic resilience fund to ensure that we create that bridge from now through to the point where we know businesses—viable, good businesses—can operate successfully again.

And in terms of some of the specific support that may be considered, as part of economic resilience fund phase 3, we did provide a ring-fenced fund of £20 million for tourism and hospitality businesses. We're going to be assessing how effective that has been. There have also been other interventions in other departments, for example, the culture recovery fund, which has been important for businesses within the arts and culture sector. Again, we'll be learning lessons from those in what will be, I think, a crucially important fourth round of support for businesses to see them through to the end of the first quarter of Q1, to that point when many scientific experts are suggesting that life could return to something of a norm.