Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 13 January 2021.
Thank you for that answer, Minister, and happy new year to you. Last year, I raised the point that the Welsh Government, through the Welsh development bank, is lending money to local councils to buy and let out commercial properties to property developers. Last financial year, it was more than £35 million, and this year, it could be as high as £97 million. My main concern was the news that the COVID pandemic has seen commercial property returns and prices collapse, putting the public money that you have invested at huge risk.
The First Minister admitted that all commercial property values where the Welsh Government has invested public money have been affected by the pandemic, and he said that he expected lending decisions now to be calibrated to the current set of circumstances that we see. If no changes have been made yet to the lending criteria, there is £97 million worth of public money at huge risk. Please tell me what discussions you have had, and what firm decisions have been taken that have changed the lending criteria that were in place before the pandemic to criteria that are, in the First Minister's own words, calibrated to the current set of circumstances.