9. Will the Minister provide an update on financial support available for small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to expand in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr? OQ59053

Thank you for the question.

Our Business Wales service provides businesses with access to a wide range of information, guidance and support, both financial and non-financial, to help grow businesses. Financial support between £1,000 and £10 million is available through the Development Bank of Wales to help Welsh businesses get the finance that they need to expand.

Thank you, Minister. I had the pleasure of visiting the NappiCycle company in Capel Hendre recently, where I was given a very interesting presentation on recycling nappies. Now, I accept that this doesn't sound like an exciting afternoon, but the level of innovation by the company was excellent. Through various processes, NappiCycle use soiled nappies and similar products and turn them into asphalt for pavements and roads. The business is part of a recycling cluster in Wales that is world-leading, and has been for some years. Now, after the business received funding from part 1 of the small business research initiative, the company, like many others that have grown over the period, is looking forward to future funding to further expand the business. So, can the Minister tell us whether part 2 of SBRI will proceed and give us an update on any other opportunities to support this sector?

Funnily enough, I am aware of nappies being turned into asphalt. It's not just something that another relatively new parent would be interested in, given the Member has two young children in his house; I remember the days fondly, and not so fondly at various times, the reality of nappy changing. But there is an opportunity to think about how we can use products to turn them into something useful and with a different purpose in the future, and this is, perhaps, an obvious and interesting example. I'd be more than happy to come back to him. I am due to make a decision on SBRI 2 and the choices to be made around that. We are jointly working, of course, around an innovation strategy as well. I'll undertake to write to the Member both about opportunities for the company he mentions in his constituency as well as the broader point on how we help small businesses to access opportunities to grow and to innovate in the future.

Thank you, Minister.