Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department provides to Leisure Trusts that are not eligible for the covid-19 business support schemes introduced by the Government.

This question was answered on 18th May 2020
The Government is aware of the financial challenges that the leisure sector is facing and is in discussions with sector representatives and local authorities to explore what additional support is needed.

As set out on 1 May, the Government is making a further £617m available through a Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund to support small businesses previously outside the scope of existing business grant funding schemes. Grants up to a maximum of £25,000 will be available and the allocation of funding will be at the discretion of local authorities.

Through Sport England, DCMS has made available a £210m package of support to the sport and physical activity sector to support it through the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes a £35m Community Emergency Fund to support organisations suffering immediate financial hardship.