Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding to the private hire vehicle sector to help that sector recover from the effects of the national covid-19 lockdown restrictions that began in January 2021.

The Government has recognised the challenging times faced by the private hire vehicle sector as a result of Covid-19, and throughout the pandemic, has sought to support businesses and individuals.

The overwhelming majority of taxi and private hire vehicle drivers are self-employed, and therefore may have been able to benefit from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). At Budget, the Chancellor announced that SEISS will continue until September, with a fourth and fifth grant, to provide certainty to businesses as the economy reopens.

The government will spend over £33bn supporting those in self-employment through the SEISS throughout this crisis, yet it remains to be just one element of a comprehensive package of support. Those ineligible may still be able to access other elements of the support available, including automatic, self-serve time-to-pay arrangements, loans, welfare support, self-isolation support payments and other business support grants.