5. What consideration does the Minister give to the improvement of economic outcomes in South Wales West when allocating funding to the economy portfolio? OQ57002

Economic resilience continues to be one of the core aims of this Government, which is why we have invested over £600 million in grant funding to support businesses this year, and over £250 million has been provided to businesses in south-west Wales since April 2020.

Can I thank the Minister for that answer, and start by declaring my interest as a sitting councillor in Bridgend County Borough Council? Minister, you may be aware that in a recent report from Bridgend County Borough Council it was revealed that average weekly wages in Bridgend county fell from £525.90 in 2019, which was near the all-Wales average, to just £464.10 in 2020, and is now the second lowest of all of Wales's 22 local authorities. I'm sure you'll agree, Minister, that sliding from mid-table to second bottom in the space of a year is surely a cause of concern to many about the job both the council and the Welsh Government is doing in improving economic outcomes in Bridgend. If that performance was replicated by a Premier League football manager, they'd have been sacked by now. Given this, what expectations does the Government place on local authorities to enhance their local economies in their areas, and what specific intervention will the Welsh Government take in Bridgend to stop the slide continuing?

I have expectations of the UK Government in terms of ensuring that they're not restraining wages in the public sector, for example, as we've seen most recently from the UK Government, so it's very difficult for me to respond to this question. I'll try and be helpful and point to the role of the corporate joint committees and what they can do in terms of working together to improve the economic situation in their local areas, but I find it very difficult to respond to questions from Conservatives about people's pay when it's the UK Government that is holding pay back and which is also taking £20 out of the pockets of some of our most poor workers as a result of their changes in terms of universal credit.

Minister, if we want to improve the economic situation of the people of South Wales West, we need to tackle the high and unfair levels of council tax in local authorities and get to grips with the increased problem of council tax arrears. Neath Port Talbot council is setting regularly one of the highest levels of council tax in Wales. Residents can't understand why it costs so much more to live in Neath Port Talbot council and why they provide services that are so much more expensive as compared to nearby councils. I asked the First Minister in July whether the Government intended to hold an inquiry into higher taxation councils, with the aim of ensuring more consistent levels across Wales, but unfortunately I didn't receive a response to that question. So, could the Minister respond to that question today? And, of course, council tax arrears have increased significantly during the pandemic, with 55,000 homes now in arrears with their council tax between January and May. So, I'd also like to ask whether the Government has any intention of announcing new plans to tackle the increased problem of council tax arrears, because this is impacting low-income families in my region. Thank you.

Thank you for raising this question. Ultimately, of course, the setting of council tax is a matter for local authorities—or for the councils, I should say—themselves. That said, Welsh Government is keen to support people with council tax and the payment of council tax, and we support over 200,000 households with their council tax. Often, households aren't aware of the support that's available to them, so I would suggest in the first instance that they could contact the council or look on the Welsh Government's website for the information about the support that is there for them. The inability to collect all of the council tax through COVID I know has been a particular issue for local authorities, so last year I was able to provide local authorities with additional funding to recognise that they had found it more difficult to collect council tax, and I think that that was a useful intervention.

In terms of arrears, we've worked really hard with local government now to find a way in which arrears are sought to be collected in a way that is person centred. So, we very much ask local authorities to explore with that individual what the cause of the arrears is in the first instance—perhaps they're not claiming all of the support that they're entitled to, for example—and then to find a way that is sensitive to go about claiming those arrears. But, you know, it is a genuine issue during COVID, and we've worked hard to support local authorities, in recognising that they haven't been able to claim as much tax, and put in a much more person-centred approach to the collection of arrears.