Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to support the hospitality and tourism industries in Northern Ireland to prepare for the lifting of covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

The Secretary of State and I are working closely with Cabinet colleagues and the NI Executive to support businesses, including those in the tourism and hospitality sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recognising the exceptional circumstances faced by businesses across the country, the Chancellor announced an unprecedented package of measures to support businesses, employees and the self-employed. This includes government backed loans and direct support for wages, which are available to the hospitality and tourism sectors.

In Northern Ireland, this is supplemented by additional support for businesses from the NI Executive following significant increases of approximately £1.3bn in the spending power of the Executive to enable it to respond to Covid-19. The Executive has used this additional spending power to deliver the £25,000 Business Support Grant to help protect jobs, prevent business closures and promote economic recovery across some of the most significantly affected industries, including hospitality and tourism. This is in line with the £25,000 Business Support Grants being delivered in England, Scotland and Wales where the Business Support Grants are available for eligible businesses within the hospitality and tourism sectors.

The Government has been developing guidance to help tourism and hospitality businesses plan for social distancing and hygiene measures and the NI Executive is considering how this can be tailored to Northern Ireland. I am pleased that the NI Executive has published dates for the re-opening of the tourism and hospitality sectors in NI beginning with camping and caravan sites as well as self-catering accommodation on 26 June.