Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support is available to those in the events, leisure, hospitality and sports sector who have been impacted by the omicron variant but do not qualify for existing support as they do not operate from rateable business premises.

Businesses which do not operate from a rate-paying premises have always been eligible for the £2.1 billion Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG).

In December 2021, over £100 million of additional ARG funding was made available to support businesses impacted by the Omicron variant. This was on top of the £250 million left over from previous allocations, meaning local authorities had over £350 million of discretionary grants to support businesses with.

As of 30 January, there remained £294 million of ARG yet to be disbursed to businesses. The Business Secretary has already written to those local authorities instructing them to disburse their remaining funding. And we encourage Local Authorities to distribute this funding to those businesses affected by the Omicron variant, and this includes those in the Events, Leisure, Hospitality, and Sports Sector.

We urge those qualifying businesses to apply for these generous grant schemes which are available until the end of March 2022.