Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 26 January 2021.
Thank you. Well, a single north Wales council continues to insist that legitimate self-catering businesses that do not meet all three Welsh Government criteria for the payment of business and lockdown non-domestic rate grants to holiday letting businesses are ineligible, leaving several struggling, telling me that their position is based on a telephone conversation with a Welsh Government official, although they confirm that the council does not have a formal written record of that conversation and nor was there any subsequent correspondence to confirm the outcome. However, I've received confirmation from three Welsh Government Ministers and all five other north Wales county councils that local authorities have discretion to pay out these grants to self-catering businesses unable to meet the three eligibility criteria, but able to prove they're a legitimate business. For example, Denbighshire confirmed they paid the grants out in these cases, and the officers from Welsh Government confirmed that their viewpoint was valid and they were correct in awarding the grants to these businesses. Will you therefore place on record that local authorities have discretion to pay out these grants to self-catering businesses that are unable to meet the three eligibility criteria, but able to prove they're a legitimate business to their council, and confirm whether Welsh Government funding is available for retrospective payments accordingly?