Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 1:59 pm on 27 January 2021.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:59, 27 January 2021

Well, can I thank Helen Mary Jones for her further contribution? And she's absolutely right, we would not be in a position—we would simply not be able to afford to replace schemes such as the job retention scheme and the self-employment support scheme in Wales. That requires the might of the UK Treasury. But, throughout this pandemic, what we have done is respond swiftly and appropriately when the UK Government has made announcements regarding support that they are able to offer, and we have shaped our packages to ensure that we plug the gaps and that we add value.

We are awaiting a response from the UK Government with regard to the very many asks that we recently made—and have been calling for for some time—in a formal letter to the Chancellor. I and my friend and colleague Rebecca Evans wrote to the Chancellor asking for the job retention scheme to be preserved for longer. We also asked for other guarantees, including flexibility from HMRC for deferred payments to be allowed for schemes such as the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme. We're awaiting the response from the Chancellor. We haven't had any indication as to whether our ask will be met with a degree of sympathy.

I've also been calling for clarity as to whether the UK Government is going to bring forward a directors income support scheme, which I know that ExcludedUK have been campaigning for and that many people have been requesting. So, we are awaiting details from the UK Government as we approach the budget, and I would hope that the UK Government would, again, recognise the need to extend that crucially important job retention scheme and other schemes, and to be acting with fairness and flexibility with regard to the other areas of activity that I've outlined.