Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:27 pm on 30 November 2022.
Meeting small businesses is always such an honour, isn't it, as a representative. Certainly, speaking to many last weekend around Pontypridd, the challenges that they're facing are astronomical in terms of those prices, still with COVID recovery. But also, because people have less money, there's less spend in those shops, and it is hugely, hugely challenging.
Another challenge for areas like Pontypridd—and this is true for many, many communities across Wales—is the challenge if they also face the fear of flooding. Many of you will recall in February 2020 the images of Pontypridd town centre under water, and many, many other communities. Of course, homes were devastated, but for those businesses it's incredibly challenging if not impossible now to be able to have insurance. If you're in an area affected by flooding and you have a house, you're able to access insurance via the Flood Re scheme, but no such scheme exists for businesses. Therefore, when we are considering in light of the climate emergency and knowing that the future of town centres like Pontypridd is going to be under threat, I would also like to ask the Government to consider, in terms of the levers to better support small businesses, what we do to support those businesses that cannot have insurance and that, if there is an option of insurance, cannot currently afford insurance, because this is then impacting them if anything goes wrong with their business in terms of their resilience. [Interruption.] Sam.