Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:10 pm on 14 December 2022.
Well, we do certainly recognise that pubs are an important part of community life, not just as businesses employing people, but giving places a sense of place as well. And I've recognised again the way that pubs have been highlighted today and the brewing businesses have come up on more than one occasion in this set of questions: the challenges of raw material increases, the challenges of energy increasing in cost as well and what that then means for pubs that are then facing their own challenges in terms of getting the right number of staff and, indeed, their own costs going up. So, I recognise there's a challenge. The difficulty then comes, beyond the support that we have provided through business rates, about what other support we can practically provide in a budget that has little room for manoeuvre. You'll see in the draft budget there isn't a spare amount of cash that the finance Minister has held back to do so. And it's also on the back of today's inflation figures showing a modest fall from 11.1 per cent to 10.7 per cent, but as I've said, the headline rate for food and drink that directly affects how pubs can do business has gone up 16.5 per cent. So, I recognise there is a wide range of challenges, and it's the part of the conversation we'll continue to have, not just with the sector but with the UK Government to understand what we can do and what resources will be available to try to support pubs as businesses and important hubs within communities.