9. Will the Minister confirm how much the Welsh Government has raised in revenue since 2016 through non-domestic rates? OQ56445

Between April 2016 and March 2020, £4.2 billion has been collected in non-domestic rates revenue. Over the same period, the Welsh Government has provided £900 million for rates relief schemes. All the revenue from non-domestic rates in Wales is distributed to local authorities to fund local services in Wales. 

Diolch. Thanks for those answers, Minister. According to the Welsh Retail Consortium, the industry has been losing £100 million in revenue every week during the lockdown. I'm sure you'd agree with me that we cannot underestimate the enormity of the economic hardship that this has caused small businesses—people who've spent a lifetime building up their enterprises, employing local staff and being a big part of local supply chains. In terms of building back better and delivering a strong economic recovery, will you look at the whole non-domestic rates situation and specifically look at whether you could scrap the business rates for small businesses, taking that burden off some of the smallest businesses in our economy, giving them more money to invest in the future, invest in staff and help the process of building back better?

Thank you for raising that issue. I think there are several important things there, including our immediate response in terms of non-domestic rates. You'll be aware that I've frozen the multiplier for next year, and that of course gives small businesses a boost. And also, of course, I've provided the 100 per cent rates relief for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses for next year, and that support in itself provides over £360 million of relief to ratepayers across Wales. Of course, we have taken out of that the large supermarkets, because clearly they don't need that kind of support at this time. We do have a permanent package of rate relief of over £239 million a year and over half of that goes towards the small business rate relief scheme, reducing bills to zero for ratepayers occupying properties with a rateable value of up to £6,000, and on a tapered basis then to £12,000. That is a generous package and a large percentage of businesses benefit from that by paying no rates at all. But as I was describing in my answer to Rhun ap Iorwerth earlier on this afternoon, the Welsh Government has undertaken a major series of research endeavours and commissioned research to ensure that we do have the information that we need to really think properly about the future of local finance. We're looking at non-domestic rates and council tax and what the future should be for both of those in order to ensure that as we move forward, the system is as progressive as possible and to ensure that it does continue, of course, to bring in funding for the Welsh Government to provide local services, but to do so in a way that is progressive and fair.