Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to extend the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund to provide additional assistance to businesses that continue to suffer significant disruption as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government recognises that this is a very challenging time for businesses in a wide variety of sectors, and that retail, hospitality and leisure properties are likely to have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 crisis due to their reliance on customer footfall. That is why the Government has provided enhanced support to these sectors in the form of a twelve-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure properties; and via the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund for properties used for these purposes which have a rateable value below £51,000.

The Government has also allocated up to an additional £617 million to Local Authorities to enable them to provide discretionary grants to businesses which have been excluded from the RHLGF and the Small Business Grant Fund because of the way they interact with the business rates system.

In addition, retail, hospitality and leisure businesses can benefit from other measures in the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including:

• An option to defer VAT payments by up to twelve months;
• The Bounce Back Loan Scheme, which will ensure that small and micro businesses can quickly access loans of up to £50,000 which are 100 per cent guaranteed by the Government;
• The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, now extended to cover all businesses including those which would be able to access commercial credit;
• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, to support businesses with their wage bills; and
• The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, to provide support to the self-employed.

The Government continues to review the economic situation and consider what support businesses need.