Businesses in Caerphilly

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 2:24 pm on 11 November 2020.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 2:24, 11 November 2020

I thank Hefin David for his questions. I'll be as succinct as I possibly can be. Those businesses that are registered to pay business rates will automatically receive grants. All they need to do is update their details. If they are looking towards receiving a discretionary top-up, then they'll need to make a very short application, but those awards are automatic once a business has updated their details, for any businesses that are registered for business rates up to the value of £50,000.

And then with regard to the businesses that he pointed to—those who are self-employed or sole traders—there's also the £25 million discretionary fund that's being operated by local authorities to assist those sorts of businesses. So, again, I would point them towards the local authority in Caerphilly, who are operating the discretionary fund. It's worth saying that in terms of the support that we've been able to get to Caerphilly so far as part of the economic resilience fund phase 3, more than 1,200 awards have already been made to businesses in Caerphilly. A huge number of businesses have received funding, and an astonishing 5,000 jobs have been supported through the third phase of the economic resilience fund in Caerphilly alone up to this point. That's an astonishing figure, given that the vast majority of financial support is still to get to businesses.