Welsh Conservatives Debate: Business

17:03
 Janet Finch-Saunders
We are all aware of the incredible impact that the private sector has on our communities and the wider economy. Business rates in general brought £982 million into the economy in Wales in 2011. I was very pleased that the Minister has now announced that the Welsh Government intends to introduce a cap of 2% on the increase in the NNDR multiplier. As a previous business person myself, I can assure you that there is nothing more demoralising than when those NNDR bills hit the doormat. It really can be quite significant for businesses. Of course, this is all in line with the Conservative-led coalition’s plans for England, ensuring that Welsh business is able to compete on an equal footing.
 
Small and medium-sized businesses are the lifeblood of Welsh communities. When I say ‘small’, I would like to include the microbusinesses and the sole traders. In 2013, there were 219,410 businesses in Wales; 94.6% of these were microbusinesses, including sole traders. Clearly, small business employers are critical to the success of our Welsh economy, and the fact remains that if each small business in Wales took on just one extra employee, we could significantly almost wipe out the unemployment levels. In 2003-14, the number of active businesses in Wales grew by 36%. However, the five-year survival rate for enterprises born in 2007 and then still active in 2012, for Wales, was way below the UK.
 
In Wales, we do have a serious problem with our increasingly deserted high streets. The 2014 vacancy rate was the highest in the UK, at 14.2%, and the prediction, which is a really sad prediction, of the disappearance of the Welsh high street within 20 years if current shop closure levels remain the same, is very worrying indeed. The clock is ticking. These statistics are hard evidence based on fact, and the Welsh Government—. You know, I have to give credit to the Minister. I know that there is a will there and that you do listen to Members, but you must now, as a Government, take immediate measures to concentrate minds, energy and resources to overcome these issues.
 
The start-up, growth and sustainability of our business and private sector requires and deserves whatever it actually takes, in addition to business rate support, to make that difference. The Welsh Conservatives, of course, have long pledged to abolish business rates for all businesses with a rateable value of under £12,000 and provide tapered relief for those with a rateable value of up to £15,000. That move alone would see 73% of businesses taken out of business rates altogether, and a further 5% actually benefiting from the tapered relief.
 
Now, following the 2014 autumn statement, I feel the Welsh Government has been given the perfect opportunity to make a real difference to Welsh businesses, as well as to ensure that it is held to account for the Welsh economy. Time is of the essence. A recent directive from Welsh Government has succeeded in creating a level of red tape and further expenditure. The reason I'm going to raise this is: as well as for business rate support, I think it's imperative that Welsh Government has to ensure that all departments, whenever they're bringing forward legislation, whenever they're sending out guidance or policies, actually ensure that this is not going to have a negative impact. I’m going to talk now about the waste transfer Act and how businesses now, only recently in the last few months, have approached me with the bureaucracy, form-filling, and expensive—. You know, businesses on the high street now, even if they only have two empty cartons of milk and a couple of empty tins of coke, are now charged with filling in forms and with providing some kind of receptacle. This is an added burden.

Over the past month, we've seen organisations—BT, electricity companies—actually making it more problematic for businesses and, again, as the Government in Wales, I would hope that you would work with these kinds of agencies and public bodies, and private companies as well, to ensure that there are not further obstacles put before our businesses.

Finally, Jobs Growth Wales. Lots of these schemes, apprenticeship schemes, are geared more towards small and medium-sized enterprises, and the sole trader and the microbusiness often lose out on that. Minister, you know I’m the chair of the cross-party group on small shops, and we have invited you—I think on three occasions now. I would ask you now, if you can, to come along, because as well as listening to us as Members, it's vital that you do get out into the business community. It’s vital that you involve yourself—