Coronavirus business rates relief for small firms

Image caption Some supermarkets have experienced panic buying over the last few days

Small businesses will benefit from more than £200m to help them during the coronavirus outbreak, the Welsh Government has said.

Shops, leisure and hospitality businesses will see their rates cut, and in some cases removed, while a separate grant scheme will be available for those who are not eligible.

Wales has been promised £835m by the UK government in the last week.

One person has died out of 124 confirmed cases of the virus in Wales.

The real number of cases is likely to be higher as the NHS focuses testing on those needing hospital treatment.

The UK government has advised against non-essential travel and told people to work from home.

What is happening on Tuesday?

Health Minister Vaughan Gething will give an update on the outbreak to the Senedd
The Welsh Local Government Association will set out how councils are responding
Campaigners have called for evictions to be banned during the crisis
Plaid Cymru calls for final year medical students to be “fast tracked” through courses to help fight the virus.

Announcing the business support package, Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said: “I know that helping businesses with their rates bills will not be enough to protect them from the severe drop in custom many are experiencing as coronavirus cases increase.”

Business rates are devolved in Wales and the Welsh Government is under pressure to match commitments in England to suspend business rates for many shops and cafes for a year.

Economy Minister Ken Skates said government figures in Monday’s Cobra meeting, which he took part in, recognised “that there are businesses and livelihoods which will be perfectly viable again, once coronavirus is over”.

Media captionCoronavirus explained in one minute by the BBC’s Laura Foster

“We want to look to see what measures can be taken to bridge the position between today and then so that those businesses are still there to go on providing the important services they do when coronavirus is at an end,” he added.

WLGA leader Andrew Morgan said: “At the moment council services remain open. Government guidance states that schools should remain open for the time being.”

How many coronavirus cases are there in Wales?

There are 124 confirmed cases to date in Wales, with following individual cases identified in local authorities:

23 cases in Swansea
14 each in Caerphilly and Newport
11 each in Cardiff and Neath Port Talbot
Seven each in Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire
Five in Blaenau Gwent
Three in Powys
Two each in Anglesey, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen and Wrexham
One each in Bridgend, Ceredigion, Conwy, Flintshire and Vale of Glamorgan
Source: PHW

Meanwhile, a group of campaigners have called on the Welsh Government to ban tenant evictions during the coronavirus crisis.

The statement is signed by former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, Welsh Labour executive member Darren Williams and several trade unionists.

It also says meals on wheels should be expanded and emergency grants given to people in “serious poverty.”

The Welsh Government said it will be announcing “a series of measures to help and protect people.”

The Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, who is now self-isolating at home, has called for final year medical students to fast tracked through their studies, so they can be brought on to the frontline fight against coronavirus.

Mr Price said pressure on the NHS in wake of Coronavirus outbreak must be “urgently addressed”.