Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with businesses which have applied for the Additional Restrictions Grant; and if he will apply lessons learnt from the process to the new £1.5 billion business rates relief fund for businesses affected by the covid-19 outbreak outside the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors.

The Department will work closely with local government throughout the development of the £1.5 billion relief scheme and will ensure that experiences from the delivery of other support measures are taken on board. This includes experiences of administering the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) which – as of 28 March 2021 – has delivered £816 million in support to over 400,000 businesses. The Government will continue to support local authorities in making further ARG payments throughout 2021/22.