Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support he is providing to businesses that are (a) closed and (b) trading with reduced capacity as a result of covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

The Government has announced there will be further funding to support businesses that are required to close due to localised restrictions being put in place to manage the spread of coronavirus and save lives.

The Local Restrictions Support Grant is now in place, which offers a helping hand to businesses in Very High Tier areas as they close their doors to help save lives. Businesses in these areas in England can receive up to £3,000 per month and payments will kick in after two weeks of closure. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 22^nd October that further funding will be put in place to support businesses in High Local Alert Level area restrictions. Funding will be provided via local authorities to support businesses, including hospitality and leisure businesses, that have had their trade affected by the restrictions but have not been required to close.

Where government has not required that businesses close, other support has been provided to help businesses through difficult trading conditions. In addition to the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund which provided support from April to September this year, the Government has extended the deadline for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme, the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and the Future Fund until 30^th November 2020.

We will work with lenders and business representatives to introduce a new, successor loan guarantee scheme, set to begin in January 2021. In addition, the Job Support Scheme will run from 1^st November to help support viable jobs in businesses facing lower demand in the winter months.