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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will extend eligibility for the Small Business Grant Fund to micro-enterprises that have a clear social purpose and reinvest the majority of their profits in that purpose.

The Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund have been designed to support smaller businesses and some of the sectors which have been hit hardest by the measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Micro-enterprises with a social purpose are not excluded if they meet the eligibility criteria for the grants.

On the 1 May 2020 the Business Secretary announced that a further up to £617 million is being made available to local authorities as a discretionary fund so that they can address cases that are out-of-scope from the Small Business Grants Fund and Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund, including business sectors that weren’t previously covered and businesses that occupy space and pay rent and rates through a landlord.