Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide Government grants to facilitate the installation of air scrubbing UV ventilation systems to tackle the indoor transmission of covid-19 and enable venues to open.

The Government has made available a broad package of grant support for businesses affected by COVID-19. Businesses which are legally required to close due to COVID-19 restrictions are eligible for one-off grants of up to £9,000 as well as monthly grants of up to £3,000, depending on their rateable value.

In addition, businesses which are not eligible for these grants for closed businesses may be able to benefit from the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG). We recently increased the funding available under this scheme to £1.6 billion across England. It is up to each local authority to determine eligibility for this scheme based on their assessment of local economic need; however, we encourage local authorities to support businesses which have been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, but which are ineligible for the other grant schemes.

The Government is of the view that business owners are best able to decide how to spend grants which they receive from these schemes and are free to use their grants to help pay for ventilation systems if they wish.