Agenda and minutes

How can you expect to support businesses when you don't know what business you are supporting. This situation is different to previous recessions due to good work by Powys getting money out to businesses. 60% of the money is going back into the economy, but unless we understand our businesses how can we support them.

It is hoped that the economic impact is not as great as feared. Whilst we are not operating on a national level, there are things the council can do locally such as supporting the Powys pound.

There has been communications with businesses through various channels, and the business support helpline has received a large number of enquiries. Advice and support has been provided to businesses. The funding from Welsh Government has been able to go direct to businesses as its through the business rates system. The economic analysis which the Council is undertaking should give a better picture of the impact on the local economy.

We do not have a business register, and we are trying to get economic data, which we should already have. What we are doing will not support our economy.

The Council does know its businesses and do work with them regularly e.g. small business rates relief, and this is how we could get money out to businesses so quickly.

The council cannot support businesses it does not understand. The concern is how the economy links into apprenticeships, how will we attract and support businesses and support high streets.

We need a proper business strategy to take this forward.

The first phase of the recovery work will be published next week. A large impact of the coronavirus has been on the economy e.g. GVA decreasing by almost 25% over the 2 year period March 2018 to 2020, potentially between 4.4% and 7.3% fewer jobs. The Council does know its businesses, we regulate a number of businesses and the Council has taken many calls over the period from businesses. Tourism is one sector that has been adversely impacted by the outbreak.

Congratulations to the team who have been distributing funding to businesses. When businesses had the £10,000 or £25,000 grants those businesses could only apply if they were adversely affected. Some businesses have remained open or benefitted from the closure of others. Will there be a review of whether these businesses were eligible to receive this funding.

This is a Welsh Government scheme, so they established the criteria. There were no eligibility criteria about whether businesses continued trading, the only sector with an additional scrutiny test was the holiday sector. Checks are also being undertaken that businesses that receive grants are eligible to receive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.1

When you compare the numbers of tests undertaken between England and Wales and then undertaken in Powys, why are the numbers so low e.g. are we having difficulty accessing testing kits.

There is greater testing capacity available than being used at present across the region and Wales.

Why are people not using the testing stations that have been established.

Prior to undertaking a test a person must have symptoms.

Are the testing stations being kept indefinitely or is there a cut off date.

There has been no discussion about withdrawing them and they need to be there in case there are increased numbers.

There seems to be a disproportionally high number of cases in Rhayader. Is there any reason for this.

The larger number of cases relate to care homes. The numbers of cases across Powys are generally low.

There has been controversy in England about obtaining figures from the national testing scheme by comparison to local testing schemes and the issue around postcode data. In Wales as testing is local are we getting better information down to postcode information about results.

Yes this is the case. One of the issues about cross border testing is the non recording of postcode information which makes it difficult to match back to the correct Health Board.

If you have a large employer with many employees, and a member of staff tests positive, does that mean that the business would need to shut down and employees self isolate. Should we be advising businesses to take the temperature of employees so that the whole of the business does not need to shut down.

The Council is aware that there are high risk areas such as meat processing. However, each individual case will be reviewed and contacts traced. This will include tracing those contacts that an individual has had including with work colleagues. Most employers would be expected to operate a system with minimal interaction between staff.