Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to support businesses affected by the covid-19 outbreak in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.

In response to the unparalleled economic shock created by COVID-19, the government quickly provided one of the most comprehensive and generous packages of economic support globally, adapting the help offered as the situation evolved. This has provided timely and targeted temporary support to individuals, families and businesses up and down the UK. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced an additional £65 billion of further measures to support the economy this year and next year, taking the total cumulative cost of the COVID-19 rescue package since the start of the pandemic to £352 billion.

Businesses in Coventry which are forced to close have been able to claim grants of up to £3,000 per month, based on their rateable value, through the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed). They can also claim a one-off grant of up to £9,000, in addition to the monthly grant. Businesses which are not able to receive these grants for closed businesses may be able to benefit from the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG). At Budget we announced an additional £425 million of ARG funding, taking the total to over £2 billion. 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. As of 17 January, the LRSG (Closed) had provided £573 million worth of grants and the ARG has provided £143 million worth of grants.

To support businesses through the next stage of the pandemic, the government is providing a Restart Grant of up to £18,000 to over 680,000 business premises, giving them the certainty that they need to plan ahead and safely relaunch trading over the coming months. To replace the Bounce Back Loans and Business Interruption Loans, the government is introducing a new Recovery Loan Scheme.

Businesses are also able to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which was introduced to help employers whose operations have been affected by COVID-19 retain their employees and protect the UK economy. All businesses across the UK can access the scheme, which will run until the end of September 2021, with employees currently receiving 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to £2,500 per month. As at 31 January, provisional statistics show that there were about 7,300 employments furloughed in the Coventry North East constituency and 20,200 in Coventry.