2. How does the economic resilience fund support Welsh businesses impacted by the pandemic? OQ57453

Thank you for the question. We have made unprecedented levels of funding available to support Welsh businesses through the pandemic, including through the unique, Wales-only economic resilience fund. The latest package of emergency support—just from ER—will provide up to £120 million to those businesses impacted by the latest protective measures to protect public health.

Minister, can I thank you, first of all, for continuing to support countless businesses and a huge number of workers not just in my constituency but across Wales during the pandemic, whilst also providing essential leadership on the economic mission that the Government is embarked on? Now, there are two particular sectors that have been hard hit during the course of the pandemic and which have enjoyed support that is only available in Wales. They are non-essential retail and taxi drivers. Minister, can you assure us that such sectors will continue to receive Welsh Government support and that you'll go on engaging with the business community and, of course, our trade unions to shape the best possible package of support for businesses?

I certainly will. Actually, it's been interesting—a recently published survey from the Cardiff Business School showed that 85 per cent of businesses who responded agreed that the support from the first two phases of the Welsh Government's economic resilience fund was as important as furlough in supporting them during the first year of the pandemic. I think that's a great credit to Welsh Government and, indeed, to the former economy Minister who oversaw those schemes. 

When it comes to non-essential retail, there is a deliberate difference between us and England. Non-essential retail is supported by measures here, but hasn't been across the border. And that's a point that was made to me forcibly by representatives of the retail sector when I met with them as part of the regular series of engagements I have with businesses, business organisations, local government and, of course, our trade unions. And, again, the point was made about freelancers, the self-employed and taxi drivers during our recent discussions. When we knew we'd have to take further measures to protect public health, I was keen to make sure that there was a form of support for taxi drivers because we know the trade was directly affected. We recently announced, of course, a doubling in that support to £1,000, showing we're listening to people, working with them and doing everything we can with the resources available to us. We'll go on listening and working with our partners here in Wales, and I believe we get better results by working in exactly that way. 

Thank you to the Member for submitting this important question as well. Minister, because of the further restrictions over Christmas and into the new year, the announcement of further financial support from the economic resilience fund is of course welcome for those businesses. However, because of the level and length of these most recent restrictions, for many it is simply not enough. An example of this is from the Night Time Industries Association, who've estimated that, on average, their members have lost around £45,000 over the festive period and into the new year. So, Minister, are those businesses lying when they say that support that they're likely to receive from the Welsh Government is not enough to cover their losses?

I think every business sector is looking to gain the greatest amount possible to support their business, and you understand exactly why they would do. When you think about the support that we've provided through the economic resilience fund, through the non-domestic rates-related support—and again, a scheme that is more generous than England—and also through the cultural recovery fund that supports a range of people in the events sector, I think, actually, you can see that we're doing everything we could and should do within the resources available to us to properly support businesses. 

Now, I don't think it's helpful to say that people are not being honest about the impact on their operations. What we're looking to do with the support we are providing is to try to make sure that businesses can survive and to support them into the recovery, and a recovery that is taking place at a more rapid pace in Wales because of the action that we took. And if you want to see the evidence for that in the public health issue, you can see that in the differential in the hospitalisation rates, and you can also see that in current case rates today, where they're nearly double in England what they are in Wales. That means we're less likely to have the direct impact those businesses also face when people aren't able to come to work because of COVID and, indeed, their customers who aren't able to come in because of COVID as well. The balance in our approach I think is the right one, and I'm confident that, in time, the further data we expect to get will prove that to be the case. 

The fund has been one way of helping businesses, but some businesses managed to survive by becoming part of the response to COVID. And I've written to the Minister and to the Government in the past on the need to maintain the supply chains created during the pandemic. Brodwaith in my constituency, as well as companies such as Elite Clothing Solutions, which is a social enterprise in the south-east, were crucial in providing personal protective equipment, but they now find themselves losing those contracts for PPE that they could still supply to the NHS. And some of these businesses, in becoming PPE suppliers, have lost some of the old contracts that they had. So, will the Minister give a commitment to look at how to maintain these supply chains, which could be a positive to come out of this pandemic?

Yes, I'll happily do so. Across the Government, Ministers are interested in the future of procurement, and how we have a properly searching test on the price but also, more importantly I think, on the value of what we are procuring as well, and on the impact on local economies of being able to source more of our goods from local supply chains, but crucially also on the resilience of the supply chains as well, because we found, in the early stages of the pandemic, that supply chains that were long established were cut off very, very quickly as the whole world was competing on a much more rapid and aggressive scale for different sorts of goods. So, yes, that is an active subject. On the particular issue you raised, I'm happy to look for the correspondence, and look to make sure that I, the health Minister and our officials do look at that properly. It is also worth pointing out, of course, that because of the way we successfully worked with Welsh businesses, and the way that our procurement teams worked in an open and transparent manner, we've had none of the scandal of an unlawful VIP lane here in Wales. That also shows that the values the Government have do matter in the choices that governments make and the way that public money is spent and safeguarded.