Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 29 September 2021.
Well we still face a couple of difficult challenges as we move forward. So, it is true to say we have undertaken an assessment to try to understand those areas of work that may yet be affected as furlough comes to an end. Most employers, though, will already have made choices, because furlough has been stepped down and more people have been returning to work and coming off furlough. We do, though, expect that some employers, particularly in less well-off parts of the economy, at the point that furlough finally ends, may then be making choices about what they do with their workforce and whether they carry on with their business. Now, the difficulty there is that, actually, our engagement with those businesses relies on them coming forward to speak to us directly about the sort of support that they could have. But we continue to work with a range of business organisations to try to understand how we can best support them. In some sectors, of course, there's a significant amount of support to the end of the year—the continuation of the business rates holiday for a range of sectors that have been hard pressed. But we'll only know the real issues in the economy once furlough has ended, and once we see the direct impact of the choices that individual businesses will make. Larger and medium-sized businesses, though, are likely, in terms of our engagement with them, to have already made those choices.
The challenge is difficult because we know we're not yet out of the pandemic, and it is possible that we may need to take action through the autumn and the winter as a result of the unfinished pandemic. Our ambition, though, is not to have to do it, which is why we reiterate for people to do the small but important things they can do to help prevent the pandemic getting back into a position where it could threaten the ability of our NHS to function: to wear masks in particular, where they need to; to test regularly when they're going in and out of different places; and, of course, in reminding people about the first question from your colleague Peter Fox, working from home wherever possible; and to have that sensible conversation to keep coronavirus under control.