3. Will the First Minister make a statement on the impact of COVID-19 on the economy in Pontypridd and Taff-Ely? OQ55944

Llywydd, I thank Mick Antoniw for that. The latest employment and growth forecasts clearly show the damaging impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on the Welsh economy and beyond. To date, our lockdown business fund has provided over £7 million in support to 2,379 businesses, spanning over 22,000 jobs in Rhondda Cynon Taf alone.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. In my constituency of Pontypridd, we have battled with flooding, which hit our economy and our infrastructure hard, and, of course, we battle with COVID, with some of the highest infection rates in Wales. And, like many thousands of others, I've stood outside my home and clapped and applauded our public sector workers as a community, and we've recognised the vital contribution that they've made during the pandemic. Many of them have suffered from COVID; some have died. Our thoughts are with the family of Mark Simons, a healthcare assistant at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital and a Unite health and safety representative. He died on 10 November after contracting coronavirus. First Minister, all our public sector workers have gone the extra distance to keep us safe and to protect us and our families. Now, on Wednesday, whilst the Tory Government's mates make millions of pounds of profit out of dodgy personal protective equipment contracts, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is planning to tell our public sector workers that their reward for their sacrifice will be three years of pay freeze for tens of thousands of Welsh workers—a return to Tory austerity.

First Minister, it is not too late to ask the UK Government to do a u-turn. So, will you make contact with the Prime Minister as a matter of urgency and do all you can to urge him to honour and recognise the contribution of all—and I emphasise 'all'—our public sector workers during this pandemic?

Well, I thank Mick Antoniw for that, Llywydd. I thank him for reminding us—I know Members here don't forget at all, but just for reminding us—that behind everything that we talk about here are actual people's lives. Over 3,300 deaths reported in Wales by the Office for National Statistics today, and many of those people have been front-line workers in our health and social care services and elsewhere. So, of course it is not too late to urge the Chancellor of the Exchequer to rule out a public sector pay freeze and to deliver the funding, across the United Kingdom, that we need to protect our health, jobs, and to support a fair recovery. Workers across our public services have continued to play their crucial roles in the midst of a global pandemic, helping to save lives and to keep services running. They should be recognised for this effort and not forced to pick up the bill.

The Chancellor says that there is no return to austerity. Well, I certainly hope that that is true of public sector workers who've been at the forefront of this crisis and who deserve to be recognised for that. Unfortunately, Llywydd, I'm told that the Prime Minister will once again not attend the COBRA meeting this afternoon. You might think that, given the significance of the decisions that we are having to take there, the Prime Minister might think that that was a conversation in which he would choose to be engaged. But, if an opportunity arises—there will be other Ministers of the UK Government there, and, if that opportunity arises, I will certainly make the points that the Member has made here this afternoon.

First Minister, I'm particularly concerned about young people in South Wales Central, including Pontypridd, who are entering or attempting to enter the labour market during this period, and I think we have very harsh past experience of young people entering the labour market during a period of economic distress. And I would urge you to look at the training packages and also the funds available for postgraduate study, for instance, in the next few years, because I think these sorts of programmes, which are largely under the control of the Welsh Government, will need to be used to a greater extent than perhaps we had planned, but this will also help our further education colleges and the university sector. But young people really need to be supported as much as we can during this period.

Well, Llywydd, I agree with the point that David Melding is making. We have very difficult experience in Wales of generations of young people without a future mapped out in front of them, and we absolutely do not want to go back to that in this crisis. I agree with what the Member said—that there will be young people who will choose to use this period to invest further in developing their own skills and education, so that, when an upturn comes, they are better equipped to take advantage of it, and we will want to help them to make sure that that happens.

I know that the Member will have seen the announcement on 11 November, where we provided further detail of the help that businesses can have—and further education colleges, of course, as a result—to promote apprenticeships here in Wales. Businesses are now able to claim £3,000 for each new apprentice under the age of 25 when employed for at least 30 hours, and I know that David Melding will particularly welcome the fact that there is an additional £1,500 for any business who is able to take on a new disabled young person as an apprentice. On 18 November, we announced the business start-up barriers fund, a sum of £1.2 million, particularly aimed at those young people who left college and university in 2019 and 2020 who may have ideas of their own about businesses they would wish to try and get off the ground, but need that extra help and support from Government in order to be able to do so, and that business start-up barrier fund will particularly be aimed at the sort of young people to whom David Melding has drawn attention this afternoon.