Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 1:48 pm on 27 January 2021.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:48, 27 January 2021

I thank Russell George for his further questions and say that, in terms of the overall numbers, there are between 8,500 and 9,000 businesses within the sector that the specific fund has been established to support. So, of those 8,500 to 9,000 businesses, I think 7,600 applications is pretty impressive so far, but obviously we are leaving the fund open to give every opportunity to those remaining businesses to apply for support, and indeed we made the decision to extend the period the fund is going to be open for. Obviously, this is vitally important money for businesses that will continue to suffer during the winter months. But, as I've already said, we're already putting money into the bank accounts of those businesses—a significant sum of money has already been awarded and drawn down.

In terms of a discretionary fund, obviously we wouldn't want to duplicate what is already on offer and local authorities still have their discretionary funds open for applications—a £25 million fund. We're open to ideas as to how we can support every sector across the economy, and crucially the hospitality sector. If we look at some of the comparisons as well with the UK, with the larger businesses, we'd see that for businesses with a rateable value of between £12,000 and £50,000, in England, the maximum award is currently around about £6,000; in Northern Ireland, about £14,400; in Scotland, for hospitality, it's around £12,000; here in Wales, £25,000. And if you look at the larger businesses, those with rateable values of between £50,00 and £500,000, in England the maximum would be £9,000; Northern Ireland, £19,200; in Scotland, again, specifically for hospitality businesses, it would be £34,000. There is an opportunity here in Wales for those businesses of that size and type to draw down £110,000. That demonstrates just how significant our funds are in Wales and how we are still offering the most generous package of support for businesses. But, of course, as we consider future rounds of support, we are always open to ideas, and any suggestions from any Members will be welcome and received very well here in this department.