Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 23 June 2021.
Thank you for the question, and I very much am looking forward to finding that common ground on which we can work collaboratively in the future, and congratulations on your appointment to what is an absolutely fascinating and wonderful portfolio, which I know you'll enjoy.
Welsh Government has been really keen to provide the absolute best possible package of support for businesses right through the course of the pandemic, and, as a result, we've already announced and committed around £2.5 billion in financial support, and that safeguarded 160,000 Welsh jobs. Clearly, we're very mindful of the impact of the continued restrictions on certain sectors of the economy, which is why my colleague the education Minister recently announced an additional £2.5 million being made available to compensate those businesses, such as indoor attractions and wedding venues, who are still affected by the staged transition to alert level 1. The supplementary budget sets out the allocations which have been made to date. However, you'll be aware that, in the final budget, I did earmark up to £200 million of additional support for businesses. So, there is certainly some funding left to allocate, and I know that my colleague the Minister for Economy is speaking to officials about what schemes might look like in the future, and I know that he'll be keen to provide as much information as soon as possible.