Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 3:15 pm on 24 February 2021.
Thank you. The sector certainly needs further support. There are still businesses who are only receiving a little support, or virtually none—those who are self-employed, those who don't pay their staff through PAYE, businesses that opened too close to the original lockdown, those that are receiving the self-employment income support grants, but therefore haven't been eligible for the grants from the specific fund for the sector. There is one fund looking at commercial profits, looking at the threshold and another on turnover. I've received correspondence from a company running a number of restaurants—the staff are on furlough, but the owners can't pay themselves because there is no profit in the business.
These are very common stories. I want this sector to be fit and ready to reopen, so can I ask you what you are doing now to try and close these gaps? With the new normal being very different to how things were, when things do reopen—fewer customers in restaurants, for example, a bus company not being able to work, possibly—how do you hope to assist businesses in reopening on a phased basis? When will we have the kind of recovery plan that will engender confidence in the sector for the future?