1. What measures will the Welsh Government introduce to support businesses in the current Senedd term? OQ56948

Llywydd, I thank the Member for that question. In a week when the support to businesses in Wales afforded by the furlough scheme has been withdrawn by the UK Government, the Welsh Government will continue to provide a comprehensive package of assistance to Welsh businesses.

First Minister, I'm sure you'll agree that a thriving retail sector is vital to the economic development of all communities across Wales. It is concerning for me, however, that almost one in five shops in Wales are now empty according to the Welsh Retail Consortium. One of the main factors causing the decline of our high streets is the high level of business rates here in Wales. I heard your answer to my colleague James Evans on this last week, when you said, and I quote,

'When a Labour Government is able to implement the policy for England, then the money will flow to Wales to allow us to continue to develop the scheme we have.'

So, First Minister, why have you rejected the policy of your party in England of abolishing business rates when Wales is the only part of the UK where Labour is actually in power and can actually implement this? Thank you. 

Well, the answer to the question must be known to the person who asked it before she began the question. The money that comes to Wales depends upon decisions that are made by the UK Government, and then that money is passported to Wales through the Barnett formula. The minute your party in England abolishes business rates, there will be money in Wales for us to do the same. You have made no such promise. The next Labour Government will do that; then there will be money in Wales for us to be able to attend to business rates here. 

First Minister, a recent letter from the Federation of Small Businesses Cymru to Members of the Senedd called for key Welsh Government interventions to support businesses such as Business Wales and the Development Bank of Wales to be protected and developed. With continuing uncertainty around post-EU funding, and the UK Government's blatant attempts to reclaim both money and powers, do you agree this poses a threat to the ability of Welsh Government to develop made-in-Wales solutions to support businesses in Wales?

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd, and it's a very important one in relation to business support. I remember the letter that the FSB wrote to Members back in June of this year. It was in the context of the shared prosperity fund, and the FSB said that whatever the shape of the shared prosperity fund, it's vital that money continues to come to Wales so that core business support infrastructure, including Business Wales and the Development Bank of Wales, can be protected and developed in the future. Now, the truth of the matter is that, on the current information that we have from the UK Government, DBW funding will be reduced. We will lose up to a third of the money that we spend on apprenticeships in Wales—that's £30 million every year. We will lose £12 million that we invest in Business Wales. 

So, the point the Member makes is absolutely crucial. In order for us to be able to do what the original question asked us to do, we need to see the money that has come to Wales in the past, that has enabled us to make those investments, continue to flow here. If it doesn't, nobody should believe that there is some secret store of money available to the Welsh Government that we would be able to use to make good the deficits that would then exist in funding from the United Kingdom. You will remember the promise—I know the Member will remember the promise—that Wales would not be a penny worse off as a result of leaving the European Union. Well, we already know that that promise has not been delivered—£137 million worse off in rural funding alone. If we don't get the replacement money in business support, then those key things that the FSB pointed to in their letter to Members inevitably will be under threat.

Prif Weinidog, I just really wanted to ask a very brief question about support to our town centres. As I'm sure you would agree, during the COVID period, many small shops have been absolutely vital to our communities. And therefore, I'd just be really interested in how you will be supporting our town centres, going forward. Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I thank Jane Dodds for the question.

The Welsh Government is committed to supporting town centres. The Transforming Towns fund has many tens of millions of pounds in it that we are investing across Wales to create the town centres of the future. That is the point that I always try to make—that if we think we will sustain town centres and, indeed, the retail sector by just trying to go back to the way things used to be, I think that effort is doomed to fail. There is a future for town centres, but it will rely on a wider range of activities than simply retail. It will involve leisure activities, it will involve residential purposes, it will involve things that bring people into the centre of our towns in a way that will make them vibrant places that people will wish to visit.

Now, there's a whole range of things we are doing: from one end of the spectrum, £200,000 to make sure that digital connectivity in some of our most disadvantaged town centres can be improved, to £15 million of investment to allow all local authorities to tackle those abandoned buildings that too often disfigure town centres and make it more difficult to make them the attractive places we wish them to be. When you add all of that up, Llywydd, as I say, it comes to over £100 million worth of investment for the purposes to which Jane Dodds has drawn attention.