Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to further develop the Green Homes Grant scheme.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme was designed to provide a short-term economic stimulus while tackling our contribution to climate change.
My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £320 million for the scheme in the next financial year, as part of funding to make homes and public buildings more energy efficient.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on the eligibility criteria for (a) racing stables and (b) riding schools & Livery stables to access the covid-19 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) businesses in England that would have been in receipt of the Expanded Retail Discount (which covers retail, hospitality and leisure) on 11 March 2020, with a rateable value of less than £51,000, will be eligible for cash grants of up to £25,000 per property.
Private stables are included in the guidance as an example of ineligible hereditaments. However, this is not intended to rule out all stables. If a stable is a genuine commercial enterprise and meets all the other criteria such as being eligible for rates relief under the expanded retail discount scheme, then they can qualify for a grant. It would be up to local authorities to decide whether the stable in question was for personal/private or commercial use.
Guidance intended to support local authorities in administering this fund was first published on 24 March and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/881040/business_support_grants-local_authorities_guidance.pdf.
Guidance for Local Authorities on the Expanded Retail Discount Scheme can be found here:
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to enable local authorities to extend the discretion to distribute surplus Business Grant funds to businesses that are (a) not covered by existing discretions and (b) are above rateable value thresholds.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has announced a package of support for business to help with their ongoing costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. This includes £12.33 billion to local authorities in England to support businesses under the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund. As at 14 June, £10.36 billion has been paid out to over 844,000 business properties across the two schemes.
On 1 May, the Government announced a further £617 million available, in the form of the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund, for local authorities to support small businesses that are not eligible for business rates or rates relief and are therefore not in scope of the existing grant schemes. Local authorities are responsible for defining precise eligibility for this scheme, and have discretion to pay grants to businesses based on local economic need – within the national guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-business-support-grant-funding
Local authorities will need to manage their schemes effectively to stay within their Discretionary Grants Fund allocation.
As with other business support measures, Ministers continue to keep the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund under review, monitoring roll-out and level of demand to assess how to ensure businesses and local economies are best supported.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to extend Statutory Adoption Pay to self-employed people.
Answered by Paul Scully
As part of the Spring Budget 2020, the Government committed to consider how to provide appropriate support to self-employed parents, including adopters, so that they can continue to run their businesses, as part of the Government’s wider review of Parental Pay and Leave.
Currently, adopters may be eligible for adoption allowance from their local authority to help them cope with the extra costs adoption brings about.