We will now move on to the short debate. I call on Cefin Campbell to speak to the topic that he has chosen. Cefin Campbell.

Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you for the opportunity to introduce this debate, and I'm very grateful to Carolyn Thomas, Luke Fletcher and Mabon ap Gwynfor for accepting an invitation to contribute to the debate.

The pandemic made all of us more aware than ever before of the importance of strong and resilient communities. Our communities were in the vanguard of the response to the pandemic, with neighbours and social enterprises working together to support the less fortunate and most vulnerable in their local communities. Following a decade of Conservative austerity, they're now facing a cost-of-living crisis, and we have a duty to support those communities by providing the help that they need not just to survive, but to thrive.

At the heart of vibrant communities are prosperous local businesses, pubs, shops, cafes, post offices and so on. Unfortunately, and increasingly these days, local newspapers across the region that I represent are full of stories of these vital—if I may say—community centres closing, and this brings genuine risks to the sustainability of our communities, and, of course, to the Welsh language and our culture.

However, it's encouraging to see communities, during the pandemic and pre pandemic, coming together to safeguard or buy these important community assets. From the Cwmdu pub in Carmarthenshire to Tafarn Sinc in Pembrokeshire; from the Farmers Arms in the Brecon Beacons to Tafarn y Plu in Llanystumdwy, these pub—and many more than those that I've named—are owned by the communities and play an increasingly important role. In Tre’r-ddôl, for example, Cletwr is a community cafe and shop that supports local producers, provides essential goods, and facilitates a range of Welsh cultural activities. In Newport, Pembrokeshire, the Siop Havards project is raising £450,000 to buy the old ironmongers shop before Christmas. And if successful, this would be the first community goods store in the whole of the United Kingdom, and their business plan includes an integral role for the promotion and protection of the Welsh language.

The Deputy Presiding Officer took the Chair.

Social enterprises and community-owned businesses thus come in all shapes and sizes, and they play a vital role in community development, in social regeneration and economic transformation. They are central to the foundational economy, and keep capital—human, social and cultural, as well as economic—circulating in local communities. Crucially, they demonstrate that commercial success can and does go hand in hand with social purpose and a community ethos. 

A recent article by Grace Blakeley in the Tribune highlighted how, under the umbrella of Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog, social enterprises in Blaenau Ffestiniog provide a world-leading example of grass-roots alternatives to the model of post-industrial capitalism. Before COVID-19, 15 social enterprises in Blaenau employed almost 200 people between them. These include CellB, a cinema and arts centre, and Antur Stiniog, a mountain biking centre. As Blakeley puts it, in Blaenau Ffestiniog, and I quote,

'a critical mass of people stopped believing that it’s impossible to change the world around them. And as soon as they gave up that limiting belief, change just happened.'

The majority, if not all, of the community businesses, co-operative enterprises and social enterprises prioritise sustainability and protecting the environment as core elements of their business models. In St Davids, for example, Câr-y-Môr is the first regenerative ocean farm under community ownership in Wales. It's a community benefit society that has two key objectives: improving the coastal environment and creating sustainable jobs. And the seafood that it produces is sustainable and very delicious, and I speak from experience, having been there with Mabon over the summer.

Ynni Sir Gâr is one of many community energy schemes that work to decrease energy costs, to tackle fuel poverty and to produce clean, renewable energy. So, social and community enterprises also have an important part to play in meeting key environmental targets.

The success of all these initiatives is owed to the knowledge and drive that exist within our communities. Support to incubate and nurture this needs to be long-term and structural. I would therefore call on the Welsh Government to consider this evening how it might both broaden and deepen its support for community-owned businesses, social enterprises and co-operatives.

The Welsh Government can rightly point to the support it provides to Cwmpas. But there are a number of other smaller organisations, themselves social enterprises, that also provide critical support and guidance to communities seeking to establish community-owned businesses. They undertake community share offers or manage asset transfers. This includes, for example, the Pembrokeshire-based PLANED, which delivers a wide portfolio of community support and has worked with communities to generate more than £1 million in funding to support the purchase and retention of community assets. It has done this, however, without core funding, which means precariousness for employees and a limit to the depth of the support it is able to offer. Reliance on short-term grant funding limits the capacity to plan and deliver projects over the longer term. Whether and what kinds of core funding might be available to organisations like this is therefore my first question to the Welsh Government this evening. This question is all the more important as key financial support available through European structural funding begins to wind up. 

As I have outlined, social businesses and enterprises that are run by the community have been in the vanguard in terms of social, economic and environmental innovation in Wales. It is, therefore, surprising that they haven’t been prioritised, perhaps, in the innovation strategy for Wales put together by the Government. I would ask for the final version of the strategy to place much greater emphasis on this.

In conclusion, therefore, as the Local Government and Housing Committee at the Senedd has emphasised, at present, there is no process in Wales to guarantee that community assets remain in the hands of a community, despite the legal rights that exist in this field for communities in Scotland and England. I would, therefore, like to echo those constant calls for legislation for a community right to buy assets to reflect what happens in Scotland. All of this would provide the support that is very much needed by communities as they try to follow the inspiring example set by the numerous and dynamic co-operative enterprises that we have across Wales, which drive economic regeneration and development plans that are based on local need and are rooted in their communities. Thank you very much.

Thank you to Cefin for bringing this short debate forward. Cefin has made an important point already: businesses that aren't located in our communities mean that the wealth created bleeds out of those communities. Building community wealth tries to restructure the economy so that wealth is captured within the community, is shared and democratised. Social enterprises can also help to transform and restructure the Welsh economy significantly. Evidence suggests that social enterprises are more likely to be fair employers and that 76 per cent of social enterprises in Wales pay the living wage. Social enterprises can come in many forms, as we've heard, including co-operative organisations, co-owned, community benefit companies, businesses that belong to the communities, trading charities and more. The key difference with conventional businesses is the degree to which the profit motive is dominant. It's true that social enterprises do aim to make a profit, but they are organisations that are led by values, which mean that they are best placed to tackle the economic challenges facing Wales today.

I'd just like to quickly thank Cefin for bringing this debate forward again. It's good to hear this discussed on the floor of the Senedd and to see recognition of the work of the Local Government and Housing Committee.

I wanted to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the inspiring father of community enterprises in Wales, the late Carl Clowes, who passed away earlier this year. Carl Clowes, of course, established Antur Aelhaearn in Llanaelhaearn back in 1974, having identified that community's weakness following the closure of a number of local works and the need to bring the community together and to create initiatives where the community had ownership, and brought pride back to that community. Carl then went on to establish so many other things, such as Nant Gwrtheyrn. So, I wanted to recognise that.

To conclude, there are other community enterprises in the pipeline in Dwyfor Meirionnydd. I wanted to highlight Menter Gwesty'r Tŵr in Pwllheli, which is just beginning, Menter in Aberdyfi, and also Menter y Glan in Pennal. If anyone wants to buy a share in Menter y Glan, Pennal, they're looking to collect £250,000. They're on £220,000 already, with the support of people like Matthew Rhys, so I encourage you to support Menter y Glan in Pennal too. Thank you.

Thank you to Cefin for giving me a minute of his time. Community facilities are places of immeasurable friendship, kindness and confidence building that cannot be measured by GDP. They are community halls, pubs and playing fields. They are areas that should be protected for people and nature. Rhyl rugby club is an exemplar grass-roots facility, not only providing a place for hundreds of young people to train, but they're also fed at the same time. It's used by 26 community groups, and it employs 20 people, providing food, drink and entertainment for the wider community. Llandegla has a not-for-profit community shop, cafe and takeaway on Offa's Dyke footpath, run by volunteers for the community. Holywell Leisure Centre, including swimming baths, was under threat of closure due to UK Government austerity measures, but a group of locals got together to run it as a charity, and I hope that austerity 2.0 and rising costs will not bring it to an end. Community social enterprises are a place where wealth is shared, not stored in banks, and where happiness and well-being should be the measure of success. Diolch.

I call on the Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport to reply to the debate—Dawn Bowden.

Thank you Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you to Cefin Campbell for introducing this important debate today. As you will be aware, supporting social enterprises across Wales to develop is one of the key aims of the Welsh Government.

Our vision is a well-being economy that drives prosperity and is environmentally sound and helps everyone to realise their potential. It's rooted in our existing economic action plan, 'Prosperity for All', with its progressive purposes of reducing inequality and spreading wealth and well-being across all of Wales.

Our economic well-being is without doubt tied to our environmental, cultural and social well-being. Social enterprises in Wales form a dynamic, diverse sector, which has demonstrated considerable growth over the last few years. There are currently 2,309 social businesses identified in Wales, who employ an estimated 59,000 people. As well as helping to achieve social and economic policy objectives, the sector is an important tool in helping the Welsh Government achieve its goals through the programme for government. It's important that we learn from the values and principles of social enterprises and co-operatives that have helped us through the pandemic to build that greener, fairer and more prosperous tomorrow. 

Social enterprises are an important part of our foundational economy. They are frequently community owned, provide local employment, and often put improving their local area at the heart of what they do. The foundational economy approach offers the chance to reverse the deterioration of employment conditions, reduce the leakage of money from communities, and address the environmental cost of extended supply chains.

There's specific attention being paid to supporting co-operatives, social enterprises, employee-owned organisations and SMEs rooted in their communities to engage in public procurement, helping sustain and create local employment opportunities, leading to healthier communities. The Welsh Government has made a commitment in our programme for government in Wales to double the number of employee-owned business by 2026. To achieve that, we are committed to providing greater support to ensure Wales-based companies remain in Welsh hands. There are currently 44 employee-owned businesses here in Wales, and this is ahead of the profiled number to reach doubling the number of employee-owned businesses to 60 within this Senedd term. On average, two to three employee buy-out deals take place here in Wales each year, but the scale of the employee-owned sector has grown in the past few years, with the potential for many more. Employee ownership delivers numerous benefits for employees and for businesses, with evidence showing that employee-owned businesses are more productive and more resilient. They're also rooted in their local areas and regions, securing good-quality jobs for the longer term within communities across Wales. 

Now, as Cefin has already acknowledged, the Welsh Government are working with Cwmpas, and we're providing funding to further promote the benefits and development of employee ownership in Wales to ensure businesses based here are aware of the opportunities and the benefits that it offers. An employee-owned business that you may be aware of, Cefin, is Tregroes Waffles. Do you know them? Tregroes Waffles, which is a small family-run bakery based in the Teifi valley in south-west Wales. It started life in 1983 when Kees Huysmans came to Wales to set up a market stall selling his version of traditional Dutch stroop. Recruiting locally, the business employs 15 people and remains strongly embedded in the community. The owner began to explore the concept of employee ownership about five years before the transition started, inspired by the John Lewis partnership model. In 2016, Kees told 10 per cent of his shares to the trust, using company profits to pay for them. As part of the agreement, the owner will sell a further 10 per cent to the trust each year, provided the company is able to pay for them. The employee-ownership model has enabled Tregroes Waffles to maintain and build upon its success in the area. The benefits of the employee-owned business are vast and include a smooth business succession, keeping the company locally rooted, workforce empowerment, buy-in and engagement and the ability to manage ongoing culture change. As a Government, we are keen to ensure that businesses consider employee ownership as an option when the time is right, and that we have the infrastructure here in Wales to support that transition.

The Development Bank of Wales manages a range of funds that are primarily focused on providing investment to micro and to medium-sized businesses across the business lifecycle. The £25 million Wales management succession fund provides ambitious managers and management teams with the funding that they need to buy established Welsh SMEs when their current owners retire or sell up. Dedicated support is also available through Social Business Wales for social enterprises who wish to start and grow and, for those businesses wanting to transition to employee ownership, we've made the commitment to provide funding of up to £1.7 million for the continuation of that service from April next year.

So, in concluding, Dirprwy Lywydd, I welcome this debate today on a subject area that we see as having a huge positive impact on the Welsh economy and in delivering on our programme for government. Diolch yn fawr.

Thank you, everyone. That brings today's proceedings to a close.

The meeting ended at 18:54.