Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of EU State Aid rules on large charity retailers seeking support through the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund.

Although the UK has left the EU, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU State Aid rules continue to apply in the UK until the end of the Transition Period.

As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission has introduced some welcome flexibilities into the rules to deal with the impacts of the Coronavirus, in the form of a Temporary Framework. This facilitates aid going to the businesses who need it most, quickly and more efficiently.

A business can receive up to EUR 800,000 of Temporary Framework aid. Other support can be given under the normal de minimis rules. These allow up to EUR 200,000 to be given to a business in a three-year period. De minimis aid can be received in addition to Temporary Framework aid.

The Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Grant Fund is under the provisions of the Temporary Framework. A grant for a specific shop would come out of a charity’s €800,000 allowance if that charity were considered to control that retail shop. A case by case analysis of each charity retailer’s company structure and activities would be necessary to determine this. The number of shops each charity would be considered to control boils down to whether it exercises sufficient control (either legally or factually) over shops such that they ought to be considered for state aid purposes to be one organisation.

The combination of these and other measures constitute an unprecedented programme of Government support for business to address the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic.