Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support is available to travel agencies who used coronavirus grants to refund their customers for cancelled holidays and therefore have inadequate funds to keep their business open.

We know how difficult these continued restrictions are for the tourism sector, with businesses having already faced many months of reduced trade.

In total, over £25bn has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks. On top of the Government’s wider economic support package, we have extended business rates relief and introduced new Restart grants of up to £18,000 for many in the sector.

We have also extended the cut in VAT for tourism and hospitality activities to 5% until the end of September. In order to help businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate, a 12.5% rate will then apply for a further six months.