8. Will the Minister provide an update on the financial support provided to businesses during the last set of COVID-19 restrictions? OQ57665

Financial support was available to retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses, alongside the cultural recovery fund and the spectator support fund. To date, over £66.8 million has been offered through these funds. In addition, many businesses are still benefiting from the 100 per cent rates relief holiday, which runs for the entire financial year, unlike, of course, businesses on the English side of the border of your constituency.

Thank you, Minister. As you know, the latest COVID support package closed for applications. I've heard from a number of businesses in my constituency who did not meet the criteria for support, whatever the reason, and they're finding themselves now in a perilous position, facing significant financial loss and placing their long-term future in doubt. So, Minister, what long-term support can the Welsh Government offer within the current devolution settlement we currently have to help businesses and help the Welsh economy thrive in the coming months and years? And in relation to the last round of COVID support, can you comment on the take-up of how many businesses accessed that support and the geographical areas where those businesses were based? Diolch, Llywydd.

So, in the longer term, you will be aware that we have already set out that there'll be rates relief next year. It will match the package on offer in England. You will also be aware that we're having conversations about how we support the future of the economy, but that is in a more challenging position because of the budget settlement we have and because of the reality that shared prosperity funds will see a deficit for Wales of £1 billion over the next few years.

When it comes to how that support has been provided through the latest round of COVID emergency support that we have made available, as with other rounds, once the support has been calculated and the moneys have gone out, we regularly publish where businesses are based and where they have received the money. It's a condition of receiving it that we do make available how that public money has been used. So, every Member will be able to see which businesses have had some support and where they're based as well. I'm looking to try to make that available on an easier to read basis, which may well be on a local authority basis, to set out the number of businesses and the amount of money that has gone in. And it really is dependent upon businesses applying, and applying successfully.

But, I am grateful—and I'll finish here, Llywydd—I'm very grateful to local authorities for the way that they have acted right across Wales in successfully and rapidly providing the non-domestic rates relief that has gone into businesses. I've met businesses in my own constituency who are very complimentary about the speed of that service and the difference that it made to them and their businesses surviving and looking forward to the future. 

I thank the Minister.