Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the (a) Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and (b) Small Business Grants Fund so that businesses that pay business rates through their rent can directly benefit.
Answered by Paul Scully
Businesses are eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund if they are based in England with a property that has a rateable value of up to £51,000 and is wholly or mainly being used for the purposes of retail, hospitality and/or leisure. The Small Business Grant Fund is available to businesses with a property that on the 11 March 2020 were eligible for Small Business Rate Relief Scheme or Rural Rate Relief Scheme.
The Government has announced an additional discretionary fund to support small businesses that fall outside the scope of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund and the Small Business Grants Fund, including those in shared spaces who do not have their own business rates assessment, which have under 50 employees and have seen a significant drop of income due to Coronavirus restriction measures.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to expand the (a) Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and (b) the business rate holiday to all businesses involved in the retail, hospitality and leisure supply chain during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Businesses are eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and the business rate holiday scheme if they are based in England with a property that is wholly or mainly being used for the purposes of retail, hospitality and/or leisure.
The Government has announced an additional discretionary fund to support small businesses that fall outside the scope of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund and the Small Business Grants Fund, which have under 50 employees and have seen a significant drop of income due to Coronavirus restriction measures.
The Government is also providing an unprecedented package of wider support available to SMEs. This includes business interruption loan schemes, job retention and self-employed income support schemes, as well as a bounce back loan scheme. The full details of all these measures have been published at: https://www.businesssupport.gov.uk/coronavirus-business-support/.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to expand the (a) Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and (b) the business rate holiday due to the outbreak of covid-19 to (a) dentists, (b) osteopaths, (c) physiotherapists, (d) veterinary surgeries, (e) providers of shared office space, (f) financial advisors in retail premises and (g) language schools.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund have?been designed to support smaller?businesses and some of the sectors which have been hit hardest by the measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The schemes have been tied to the business rates system and rating assessments, which together provide a framework for Local Authorities to make payments as quickly as possible. Businesses in the business rates system are also likely to face particularly high fixed costs.
Through the Covid-19 crisis we have continued to look at the performance of business support scheme and introduce changes, including the recently announced Bounce Back Loans.
On the 1 May 2020 the Business Secretary announced that a further up to £617 million is being made available to local authorities. This additional fund is aimed at small businesses with ongoing fixed property-related costs. We are asking local authorities to prioritise businesses in shared spaces, regular market traders, small charity properties that would meet the criteria for Small Business Rates Relief, and bed and breakfasts that pay council tax rather than business rates. But local authorities may choose to make payments to other businesses based on local economic need. The allocation of funding will be at the discretion of local authorities.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether event hire companies that pay business rates are eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Businesses in England that would have been in receipt of the Expanded Retail Discount (which covers retail, hospitality and leisure) on 11 March with a rateable value of less than £51,000 are eligible for support via the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.
The Government has published guidance on the types of businesses that would be eligible for the Expanded Retail Discount. The list is not exhaustive and it is for local authorities to determine whether particular properties not listed are broadly similar in nature to those that are included and, if so, to consider them eligible for the relief.
In addition, on the 1 May 2020 the Business Secretary announced that a further up to £617 million is being made available to local authorities as a discretionary fund so that they can address cases that are out-of-scope from the Small Business Grants Fund and Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund, including business sectors that weren’t previously covered and businesses that occupy space and pay rent and rates through a landlord.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to implement a London weighting to increase the £51,000 rateable value limit for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.
Answered by Paul Scully
There are no plans to introduce a London weighting into the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Fund. The Department is in regular contact with local authorities to understand the impact that the scheme is having on the ground.