Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Tuesday 1st September 2020 Ministerial Corrections

Covid-19: Support for Business

The following is an extract from Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy questions on Tuesday 21 July 2020.

[Dr Hudson [V]]

The Government’s support for people and businesses during the covid crisis has been fantastic and has helped countless constituents in Penrith and The Border and across the UK. Unfortunately, many have still not been able to access support, such as the newly self-employed, limited company directors, freelancers, new starters and those who fall on the wrong side of the eligibility criteria. Will my right hon. Friend work with the Treasury to see whether those hard-working people can be helped with some emergency financial support?

[Alok Sharma]

My hon. Friend will know that we have supported over 9 million jobs through the job retention scheme, 2.7 million people have benefited from the self-employment support scheme and around 870,000 small businesses have benefited from grants. The Chancellor set out his plan for jobs a few days ago. The key now is to get the economy up and running, so that businesses can trade.

[Official Report, 21 July 2020, Vol. 678, c. 1979.]

Letter of correction from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the right hon. Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma):

An error has been identified in the response I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and The Border (Dr Hudson).

The correct response should have been:

[Alok Sharma]

My hon. Friend will know that we have supported over 9 million jobs through the job retention scheme, 2.7 million people have benefited from the self-employment support scheme and over 870,000 small businesses have benefited from grants. The Chancellor set out his plan for jobs a few days ago. The key now is to get the economy up and running, so that businesses can trade.