Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has made an assessment of the support required by businesses in Newport West constituency following the rise in the number of positive omicron covid-19 cases.

The UK Government is committed to supporting Welsh businesses and continues to assess what support is needed as a result of Covid-19. This includes the provision of £1.1 billion through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, £2.4 billion in business support loans, and 474,000 employees supported through the furlough scheme.

The Welsh Government has also benefitted from an extra £3.8 billion of Barnett-based funding during this financial year – taking total block grant funding for the Welsh Government in 2021-22 to £19.3 billion that can be used to support Welsh Businesses. A further £270 million has been confirmed, which the Welsh Government can spend in advance of budgets being finalised at Supplementary Estimates, to support the vaccine roll out and ongoing Covid-19 response in Wales.

Furthermore, the UK Government has reintroduced the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme to help small and medium-sized employers cover the cost of Covid-related sick absences, covering up to two weeks per employee.