Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 25 November 2020.
Thank you for your answer, Minister. A couple of weeks ago, I asked the question of your colleague the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, and he very helpfully suggested that you were best placed to answer the question. I'm sure you would, of course, welcome the £600 million that was allocated by the Chancellor last month in guaranteed consequentials to the Welsh Government, and that's on top, of course, of the £1.1 billion guaranteed from the UK Government earlier this year. That brings a total amount of additional funding by the UK Government to £5 billion to fight the pandemic here in Wales. There has been some concern over the timely distribution of these funds to businesses. Can you tell me how much of this funding is still in the Welsh Government's coffers, rather than providing that vital support to businesses and organisations across Wales during this pandemic? You've mentioned you've allocated £4 billion to date, so I calculate that's another £1 billion yet to spend. Do you agree with that analysis, and when is that going to get to businesses on the front line?