Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the guidance sent by the Director of the Grant Delivery Directorate to councils on 10 November 2023, with the subject Flood Recovery Framework Schemes Operational Guidance - Business Recovery Grant, Storm Babet 19-25 October 2023, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) removing the reference to businesses that have made no efforts to seek appropriate insurance and (b) reopening that scheme.

The Flooding Recovery Framework is based on a set of long-established principles including, in the case of the Business Recovery Grant, that:

"Funding should not be used to reward poor business practice (e.g. if a business has made no efforts to seek appropriate insurance....)."

Whilst there are no immediate plans to change the scheme eligibility criteria or to re-open the activation for those impacted by Storm Babet, it is worth noting that the Business Recovery Grant does not operate in isolation but as part of a package of support including business rates relief for SMEs.