English: You refer to the £90 million transforming towns package announced in January and the written statement that you issued shortly before summer recess on support for our town centres to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Your written statement on 15 July, announcing a £9 million fund, stated that £5.3 million of this was from the transforming towns programme and £3.7 million from Valleys taskforce funding. Is this, therefore, new funding or part of the £90 million already announced in January? The UK Government has announced a £3.6 billion towns fund to support towns across England. Although most of this funding came from UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government departmental spending for England, which did not, therefore, generate additional Barnett consequential funding for the Welsh Government, all of the funding for the towns fund in England is drawn from pots that will generate funding for the Welsh Government. Given that the Welsh Government will therefore make its own decisions on how to spend this, will you be spending at least an equivalent sum on transforming towns in Wales? Small towns in Wales account for almost 40 per cent of the whole population of the country. Five of the 10 most deprived areas in Wales are located within towns, including Rhyl, Wrexham and Merthyr Tydfil. A Welsh Conservative Government would therefore establish a £200 million seaside town fund and market town fund to help regenerate Wales's local communities, which would help level up investment across Wales and, critically, enable communities to decide how the fund is to be invested within their local area. How, therefore, would you respond to the statement by FSB Cymru, the Federation of Small Businesses, that we need a new approach for our high streets, including publishing town strategies in every town, ensuring the ownership is local, and businesses, voluntary and public sectors are engaged, establishing a property register where interventions often fail with absent or unidentifiable landlords, to build a basis for engagement, and rethinking the role of business rates in towns, replicating the English relief of high-street businesses? Your statement in July stated that the £9 million fund would complement the Welsh Government's local sustainable transport fund and make it safer and easier for people to get around their local town. You also state today that the greening of public space, addressing drainage and improving air quality are central to shaping the town centres of tomorrow. How do you therefore respond to the call by the Royal National Institute of Blind People Cymru and Guide Dogs Cymru for the Welsh Government to ensure that people with sight loss, and other disabled people, are not unfairly disadvantaged by changes to the built environment, or any other measures taken in response to coronavirus? Your statement in July also stated the £9 million fund would complement funding to support business improvement districts' running costs for three months. A business improvement district is where local businesses - [ Inaudible.] - and work together with partners to form a group to invest money and make improvements to an area. However, when I checked the Welsh Government website today, it stated that there are currently only 16 business improvement districts in Wales that could only get - [ Inaudible.] - support up to March 2020, is available for each proposed business improvement district area. So, what, please, can you update us, is the current position with them? Finally, you state today that community engagement and empowerment is central to identifying and prioritising actions that will bolster our town centres, and that the ministerial town-centre action group will be prioritising this. When I questioned you about this in January, referring to the extensive work carried out by the Carnegie Trust on the enabling state and 'Turnaround Towns', which found the future of our towns is about more than just the high street, it's also about residents' access to levers of change and their ability to influence decisions, and that communities are best placed to bring a wealth of local knowledge and collective energy to the decisions that affect them, you replied: 'One of the things we are doing as part of this package is looking in terms of how we can take forward more of a communications approach with communities, to work with them, to actually talk about the support that we're talking about and get their input'. So, finally, what concrete measures have you therefore put in place since January to make this happen? Diolch yn fawr.
Welsh: Fe gyfeirioch chi at y pecyn trawsnewid trefi gwerth £90 miliwn a gyhoeddwyd ym mis Ionawr a'r datganiad ysgrifenedig a gyhoeddwyd gennych ychydig cyn toriad yr haf ar gymorth i ganol ein trefi i ymdopi â phandemig y coronafeirws. Roedd eich datganiad ysgrifenedig ar 15 Gorffennaf, a oedd yn cyhoeddi cronfa o £9 miliwn, yn datgan bod £5.3 miliwn o hyn yn dod o'r rhaglen trawsnewid trefi a £3.7 miliwn o gyllid Tasglu'r Cymoedd. Felly ai cyllid newydd neu ran o'r £90 miliwn a gyhoeddwyd eisoes ym mis Ionawr yw hwn? Mae Llywodraeth y DU wedi cyhoeddi cronfa trefi gwerth £3.6 biliwn i gefnogi trefi ledled Lloegr. Er i'r rhan fwyaf o'r arian hwn ddod o wariant adrannol y Weinyddiaeth Dai, Cymunedau a Llywodraeth Leol yn y DU ar gyfer Lloegr, nad oedd, felly, yn cynhyrchu cyllid canlyniadol Barnett ychwanegol i Lywodraeth Cymru, daw'r holl gyllid ar gyfer y gronfa trefi yn Lloegr o botiau a fydd yn cynhyrchu cyllid i Lywodraeth Cymru. O gofio y bydd Llywodraeth Cymru felly'n gwneud ei phenderfyniadau ei hun ar sut i wario hyn, a fyddwch chi'n gwario o leiaf swm cyfatebol ar drawsnewid trefi yng Nghymru? Mae trefi bach yng Nghymru yn cyfrif am bron i 40 y cant o boblogaeth gyfan y wlad. Mae pump o'r 10 ardal fwyaf difreintiedig yng Nghymru wedi'u lleoli mewn trefi, gan gynnwys y Rhyl, Wrecsam a Merthyr Tudful. Felly, byddai Llywodraeth Geidwadol Cymru yn sefydlu cronfa gwerth £200 miliwn ar gyfer trefi glan môr a threfi marchnad i helpu i adfywio cymunedau lleol Cymru, a fyddai'n helpu i sicrhau buddsoddiad ledled Cymru ac, yn hollbwysig, yn galluogi cymunedau i benderfynu sut y caiff y gronfa ei fuddsoddi yn eu hardal leol. Sut, felly, ydych chi'n ymateb i'r datganiad gan FSB Cymru, y Ffederasiwn Busnesau Bach, fod arnom angen dull newydd ar gyfer ein strydoedd mawr, gan gynnwys cyhoeddi strategaethau trefi ym mhob tref, sicrhau bod y berchnogaeth yn lleol, a bod busnesau, y sectorau gwirfoddol a chyhoeddus yn cael eu cynnwys, sefydlu cofrestr eiddo pan fo ymyriadau'n aml yn methu â landlordiaid absennol neu anhysbys, er mwyn adeiladu sail ar gyfer ymgysylltu, ac ailystyried swyddogaeth ardrethi busnes mewn trefi, gan efelychu rhyddhad busnesau'r stryd fawr yn Lloegr? Roedd eich datganiad ym mis Gorffennaf yn nodi y byddai'r gronfa £9 miliwn yn ategu cronfa trafnidiaeth gynaliadwy leol Llywodraeth Cymru ac yn ei gwneud yn fwy diogel ac yn haws i bobl fynd o gwmpas eu tref leol. Rydych chi hefyd yn datgan heddiw hefyd fod gwneud mannau cyhoeddus yn fwy gwyrdd, mynd i'r afael â draenio a gwella ansawdd aer yn ganolog i lunio canol trefi yfory. Sut felly ydych chi'n ymateb i alwad RNIB Cymru a Guide Dogs Cymru i Lywodraeth Cymru sicrhau nad yw pobl sydd wedi colli eu golwg, a phobl anabl eraill, dan anfantais annheg oherwydd newidiadau i'r amgylchedd adeiledig, nac unrhyw fesurau eraill a gymerir mewn ymateb i'r coronafeirws? Roedd eich datganiad ym mis Gorffennaf hefyd yn nodi y byddai'r gronfa £9 miliwn yn ategu cyllid i gefnogi costau rhedeg ardaloedd gwella busnes am dri mis. Ardal gwella busnes yw lle mae busnesau lleol - [ Anghlywadwy. ] - a chydweithio â phartneriaid i ffurfio grŵp i fuddsoddi arian a gwneud gwelliannau i ardal. Fodd bynnag, pan edrychais ar wefan Llywodraeth Cymru heddiw, roedd yn nodi gallai 16 o ardaloedd gwella busnes yng Nghymru ar hyn o bryd ond cael - [ Anghlywadwy. ] - mae cymorth hyd at fis Mawrth 2020 ar gael ar gyfer pob ardal gwella busnes arfaethedig. Felly, beth, os gwelwch yn dda, os gallwch chi roi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf i ni, yw'r sefyllfa bresennol gyda nhw? Yn olaf, rydych chi'n dweud heddiw fod ymgysylltu â chymunedau a'u grymuso yn ganolog i nodi a blaenoriaethu camau gweithredu a fydd yn cryfhau canol ein trefi, ac y bydd y grŵp gweithredu gweinidogol ar ganol trefi yn blaenoriaethu hyn. Pan holais i chi am hyn ym mis Ionawr, gan gyfeirio at y gwaith helaeth a wnaed gan Ymddiriedolaeth Carnegie ar y wladwriaeth alluogi a 'Turnaround Towns', a ganfu fod dyfodol ein trefi yn ymwneud â mwy na'r stryd fawr yn unig, mae hefyd yn ymwneud â mynediad trigolion at ysgogiadau newid a'u gallu i ddylanwadu ar benderfyniadau, a bod cymunedau yn y sefyllfa orau i ddod â chyfoeth o wybodaeth leol ac egni ar y cyd i'r penderfyniadau sy'n effeithio arnyn nhw, fe wnaethoch chi ateb: 'Un o'r pethau yr ydym ni'n ei wneud yn rhan o'r pecyn hwn yw ystyried sut y gallwn ni gyfathrebu mwy gyda chymunedau, i weithio gyda nhw, i siarad mewn gwirionedd am y gefnogaeth yr ydym ni'n sôn amdani a chael eu barn'. Felly, yn olaf, pa fesurau pendant yr ydych chi felly wedi'u rhoi ar waith ers mis Ionawr i wneud i hyn ddigwydd? Diolch yn fawr.