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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has spent on business subsidies in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) January 2022.

Information reported on the European Commission’s State Aid Transparency Public Search database for subsidies granted by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy only and, since January 2021, on the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy’s subsidy control transparency database is:

(a) 2019: £15,919,618.

(b) 2020: £3,756,963,591.

(c) 2021: £1,677,146,697.

(d) January 2022: £1,116,000.

The data from 2019 and 2020 reflects subsidy awards given under the EU State aid rules. The significant increase in subsidies in 2020 and 2021 is a result of Covid-19 related business support schemes such as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS), which provided government-backed finance to support businesses that had been impacted by the pandemic.