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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with business representative organisations on the effect on businesses of the covid-19 pandemic.

Ministerial colleagues and I have engaged closely with business representative organisations throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and we continue to do so.

Ministers hold regular sector calls with all the industries that BEIS covers, including but not limited to manufacturing, energy, construction, life sciences, professional services, retail and hospitality. Attendees include business representative organisations, trade associations and trade unions. We use these on-going engagements to collect direct intelligence on the impact of Covid-19 on industries and sectors that informs the response from BEIS and other Government departments and ensures the effectiveness of the Government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak.