Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that wholesalers can access the forthcoming Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund; if he will make reference to the eligibility of wholesalers in the forthcoming Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund guidance; what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring the wholesale sector’s access to that relief; and if he will make a statement.

The £1.5 billion COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund will be allocated to local authorities based on the stock of properties in the area whose sectors have been affected by COVID-19 and are ineligible for existing support linked to business rates.

My Department will publish guidance to help local authorities set up their local schemes once the legislation relating to COVID-19 Material Change of Circumstances provisions has passed. This will include the eligibility criteria for the scheme and individual local authority allocations.

Decisions on the award of relief will ultimately be for local authorities, having regard to the guidance.