8. What action is the Welsh Government taking to support investment activity in Welsh businesses? OQ59761

Thank you. The Welsh Government supports investment activity in Welsh businesses through Business Wales and indeed the Development Bank of Wales. Regional economic frameworks and the growth deals are used as investment activity tools and support across Wales. We also, of course, have the advantage of having a stable and reliable Government in Wales for businesses to partner with.

Thank you, Minister. The Development Bank of Wales, which is wholly owned, I believe, by the Welsh Government, is a powerful lever for facilitating investment in Welsh businesses and across the Welsh economy. In its last financial year to the end of March 2023, it invested £22.9 million compared to £11.6 million a year earlier—a rise of 66 per cent. The bank said its investment and lending activities created 2,552 jobs, and safeguarded a further 2,117 jobs. So, this is obviously very critical to Wales.

Minister, how would you therefore assess the decision of the Welsh Government in creating the UK’s first regional bank? And also, Minister, how would you envisage the bank reaching out to other Welsh stakeholders to support people, businesses, and communities across Wales?

I think it’s been a significant success, and again, I need to recognise Ken Skates’s role in creating DBW in the first place, to some scepticism, but actually, when you look at the five-year results that have been published, there are strong results in every region of Wales, and you can see how successful it’s been in that the Federation of Small Businesses in England, one of their key asks for the next election is to have something like DBW in regions in England. And, you know, that is the most sincere form of flattery, is it not?

It also is more recognised now in the landscape, the number of businesses that can point to the fact that DBW’s been crucial to them surviving and investing in the future. Look at the green business loan scheme, helping companies with their bottom line, as well as doing the right thing for the planet. I think you will now find an environment where, if we took DBW out of the equation, we'd see a real hole to be filled and real pain for a range of businesses. So, the success is there; it is obvious in DBW's figures, and crucially, in the way that other business partners look to it and talk about it as a key opportunity for investing in the future of our economy.

Thank you, Minister.