LAST week, the Welsh Government cabinet secretary for finance and local government Mark Drakeford AM announced that the Welsh Government will be extending its Small Business Rates Relief Scheme to 2017-18, with a new permanent scheme coming into force from 2018.

Business rates, (also known as non domestic rates,) are a tax paid on non domestic properties and the means by which businesses and other users of non domestic property contribute towards the costs of local authority services.

The Welsh Government is committed to supporting small businesses and under our Small Business Rates Relief Scheme, business premises with a rateable value of up to £6,000 will receive 100 per cent relief and those with a rateable value between £6,001 and £12,000 will receive relief on a tapered basis from 100 per cent to zero.

There are 3,544 business properties in the Vale of Glamorgan which are liable to pay non domestic rates and many will benefit from this announcement which meets the Welsh Labour manifesto pledge to: “Deliver a tax cut, meaning smaller bills for 70,000 businesses and bills reduced to zero for half of all eligible firms.”

Business who want to find out more about the scheme can visit the business Wales website at businesswales.gov.wales/

Also last week, I joined Kay Clarke from Barry and other WASPI campaigners (Women Against State Pension Inequality) in a show of support alongside other Labour AMs and Labour MPs. They are calling on the UK Government to ensure fair and just transitional arrangements following the increase in pension age for women.

Campaigners argue that changes made to women’s state pensions in the UK Government’s 2011 Pension Act were unfairly implemented, leaving many women born in the 1950s with little or no time to make alternative financial plans.

As the campaigners told me, they will not just ‘buzz off’ and the UK Government needs to respond to their call for fair and just transitional arrangements.

Finally, I am sponsoring an exhibition in the Senedd of work by Barry artist, Glyn Pooley. The Between the Lines exhibition is a unique record of community life in Wales and UK that now comprises portraits of more than 65 people, including some very well known figures and familiar Vale faces.

Each person featured in the exhibition was nominated by one of the other subjects.

Between the Lines will be on show at the Senedd from Friday, September 23 to Thursday, October 20.

It is a fascinating project that has produced a wonderfully diverse and authentic range of subjects. It shows how strong the Welsh community is and how it links to a global community.

It is well worth taking a look at.