Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the timetable for distributing the £10m payments to the fishing sector to support those affected by COVID-19, announced on 17 April; and what additional resources will be made available to the Marine Management Organisation to ensure applications for the grants to fishers whose business has suffered severe market disruption are processed in an efficient manner. [T]

This Government shares Baroness Wheeler’s concern that support reaches those most in need in the English fishing and aquaculture sectors as quickly as possible and that is why we are treating the distribution of this funding as a matter of urgency.

The £10 million financial assistance announced on 17 April 2020 will be broken down into two funds, the Fisheries Response Fund (FRF) and the Domestic Seafood Supply Scheme (DSSS), both delivered by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).

The FRF, worth £9 million, will contribute to the fixed costs of catching and aquaculture businesses adversely affected by the downturn in export and domestic markets for fish and shellfish.

The MMO has contacted all 1,179 eligible vessel owners; of these, 950 have applied and by 1 May the MMO have made payments totalling £3.6 million to 786 applicants.

The aquaculture portion of the FRF was launched on 6 May.

The Domestic Seafood Supply Scheme will provide £1 million in grants to support seafood businesses to sell their products in their local communities and nationally. This scheme opened on 29 April. And applications close at noon on Monday 11 May.

The MMO has reprioritised resources to ensure efficient and timely delivery of this support and has extended its opening hours to 7pm and Saturdays. This is being kept under review.