Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:19 pm on 29 June 2022.
Thank you for raising that really important point, because small and medium-sized enterprises are, of course, the backbone of our economy here in Wales, but also they have a huge role to play in terms of helping us work towards our decarbonisation goals. In November of last year, a £45 million package was launched by my colleague the economy Minister to train staff and to help Welsh SMEs to grow, and included in this package was £35 million that will help small and medium-sized businesses relaunch, develop and, importantly, decarbonise to help drive the recovery following the COVID pandemic. So, that will be an important source of potential support that I would encourage businesses in the Cynon valley and elsewhere to look to.
I think, also, it's important that we start off our new small and medium-sized enterprises on the right foot. And that's why, in February 2022, Business Wales launched their net-zero carbon start-up grant, which is a pilot scheme offering financial and technical support to help budding or start-up social enterprises get their businesses ready for trading or investment, and, crucially, to embed climate-friendly practices into start-up social enterprises from the outset. This scheme is open to any up-and-coming social business or trading voluntary organisation in Wales. Again, this will be something that I know that those eligible organisations in the Cynon valley and elsewhere will be keen to explore.