Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prepare further financial support packages for the night-time entertainment industry affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Government recognises the severe impact the pandemic has had on the night-time entertainment industry.
The Chancellor announced in the 2021 Budget an additional £300 million to support cultural organisations, including businesses in the night industry such as theatres, music venues and nightclubs in England through the Culture Recovery Fund. Nightclubs were eligible for the first and second rounds of Culture Recovery Funding and many organisations were funded, for example, the Ministry of Sound received a grant of almost £1m. To date, over £1.2 billion has been allocated from the Culture Recovery Fund, reaching over 5000 individual organisations and sites.This extra funding means that our total support package for culture during the pandemic is now approaching £2bn.
More generally, the Government will spend over £33 billion supporting those in self-employment during this crisis, among the most generous anywhere in the world. The Government has also provided economic wide support packages which the sector has been able to access including extensions to the furlough scheme, SEISS, and additional business support.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham Ladywood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to undertake a review into the eligibility thresholds for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government announced at Budget that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue with a fourth and final fifth grant. The fourth and fifth grants are an estimated £13.5bn of additional support, taking total support for the self-employed to over £33 billion since the start of the pandemic. This provides certainty to business as the economy reopens and means the SEISS will continue to be one of the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world.
Further information about the fourth grant is available in recently published guidance, at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme. Further detail on how the fifth grant will operate will be confirmed in future guidance, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will make an assessment of the (a) implications for his policies of the findings of the recent survey by #WeMakeEvents of businesses and individuals in the live event supply chain and (b) potential merits of making sector-specific fiscal support available to the live entertainment industry in response to the effects of the covid-19 outbreak on that industry.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises the severe impact the pandemic has had on supply chain businesses for the live events sector.
Supply chain organisations were eligible for the first two rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund and are recognised as a critical part of the sector. Across the first two rounds of funding, the Culture Recovery Fund has helped 311 organisations in the live music supply chain to date with approximately £47million awarded. A further £300M will be available to continue supporting the broad cultural sector throughout 2021.
The Government will spend over £33 billion supporting those in self-employment during this crisis, among the most generous anywhere in the world. The Government has also provided economic wide support packages which the sector has been able to access including extensions to the furlough scheme, SEISS, and additional business support.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the self-employed during the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant. This provides certainty to business as the economy reopens and means the SEISS will continue to be one of the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world, and one of the few where support is committed until September.
The fourth and fifth SEISS grants are an estimated £13.5bn of additional support, taking total support for the self-employed to over £33 billion since the start of the pandemic.
Self-employed people may also have access to other elements of support available, including Restart Grants, the Recovery Loan scheme, business rates relief, and other business support schemes.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support small businesses owners who commit to investing in their businesses in 2021.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government aims to make the United Kingdom the best place to start, grow and run a business. Support for small businesses to grow and invest comes on top of the Government’s existing plans to support growth through significant investment in infrastructure, skills and innovation – as set out in ‘Build Back Better – our plan for growth’, published alongside the Budget.
From April 2021 until the end of March 2023, companies can claim 130% capital allowances on qualifying plant and machinery investments. The super-deduction is the biggest two-year business tax cut in Modern British history - supporting British enterprise in leading us to the post-pandemic economic recovery. Under the super-deduction, for every pound a company invests, their taxes are cut by up to 25p. The super-deduction cuts the tax bills of companies that invest and the more they invest the less tax they will pay.
In order to help smaller firms improve business practices and productivity we are developing a new world-leading SME management training offer, Help to Grow: Management, aiming to directly upskill 30,000 business leaders helping them realise their potential. The Government will also launch a new online platform where businesses can access impartial advice on software, and a voucher to reduce the costs of buying that software through the Help to Grow: Digital scheme.
Our new Recovery Loan Scheme launched on 6 April, provides additional finance and further support to protect businesses and jobs, ensuring businesses continue to benefit from Government guaranteed finance throughout 2021. The new scheme will enable businesses of any size to continue accessing loans and other kinds of finance from £25,001 up to a maximum of £10 million per business as they grow and recover from Covid-19 related disruption. Invoice and asset finance from £1,000 is also available.
For those starting a new business or for businesses which have been trading for up to 24 months, the Start Up Loans Company provides loans of between £500 to £25,000 at a competitive rate of 6%. In addition to finance, every loan recipient is offered a dedicated mentoring service and access to a free expert business mentor for 12 months to help them with every aspect of setting up a business. The Start Up Loans programme, operated by the British Business Bank, has issued loans to businesses in every Local Authority and UK parliamentary constituency since 2012.
The Government continues to provide a range of support and information for small businesses, including on starting and running a business, through our online services on GOV.UK. Support and advice is also available via the Business Support Helpline on FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098, and via the network of 38 local Growth Hubs in England.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to support professional writers.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
A thriving UK publishing industry is crucial to support the development of professional writers. We know that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to the publishing industry. The Government’s response has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Bounceback Loan Scheme and business rates reliefs. The publishing sector has also benefited from the government's introduction of a zero rate of VAT to e-publications, which will make it clear e-publications are entitled to the same VAT treatment as their physical counterparts.
In terms of direct support for authors, Arts Council England’s (ACE) ‘time-to-write’ grants are a vital source of funding that allow authors to dedicate time to the completion of manuscripts. Authors also receive support via ACE's Developing Your Creative Practice Fund, which was designed with the expectation that writers would be among the beneficiaries.
In addition, over the course of the pandemic, ACE contributed £400,000 to the Society of Authors’ ‘Authors Emergency Fund’, in order to ensure that authors whose income had been decimated by the pandemic were able to remain active in their discipline.
The Government also maintains a strong legal framework to protect the rights and interests of writers, including through copyright and the Public Lending Right.
Asked by: Colum Eastwood (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress has been made on the establishment of a Northern Ireland hub in London as committed to in Annex A, Section 7 of the New Decade New Approach Deal.
Answered by Robin Walker
The UK Government is committed to delivering on its commitments under the New Decade, New Approach Agreement as well as strengthening the ties across the UK.
We recognise the strong case for a Northern Ireland hub in London and I hope that the Executive might be able to support the proposal, which would strengthen Northern Ireland’s presence and impact in London and more widely. However, this proposal has been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and remains at the early scoping stage. The next step will be to explore the feasibility of the proposal and the Executive’s appetite for a base in London.
In the meantime, InvestNI has an existing hub in London that supports business development, networking and marketing opportunities for InvestNI clients across the UK. Part of the New Deal for Northern Ireland included £8m funding to InvestNI to expand their presence overseas and help increase exports and attract investment.
We are also committed to continuing to showcase the brilliance of Northern Ireland across the UK and to the world. The Centenary of Northern Ireland this year presents a wonderful opportunity to drive this forward, including through our hosting a NI Business Showcase event in London to boost exports and investment into Northern Ireland.
We will continue to work with partners in Northern Ireland and beyond to champion all that it, and the rest of the United Kingdom has to offer.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to boost business investment in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Paul Scully
We aim to make the UK the best place in the world to start, run and grow a business. The Government provides a wide range of support and information for small businesses including on the GOV.UK website. Free and impartial advice is also available via the Business Support Helpline on FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098 and via the network of 38 local Growth Hubs in England.
The Start Up Loans Programme, part of the Government-backed British Business Bank, offers loans up to £25,000, repayable at 6% per annum across 1-5 years. Across the UK, 81,608 loans have been made, worth over £707.6m from the programme’s launch in 2012 to the end of February 2021.
Over the same period, in the Coventry North East constituency, 136 loans have been made worth £1,120,379. In the Coventry City Council area, 377 loans have been made to a value of £3,436,907. In England, 71,207 loans have been made worth £617,745,993.[1]
My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that a further £5bn is being made available through Restart Grants to help businesses as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. This means a total of £25bn has been allocated to direct business grants during the course of the pandemic.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) self-reported that in 2019-20, its Growth Hub engaged with 66,452 businesses/individuals (including via digital channels); directly supported 1,798 businesses, of which 77 received over 12 hours of high-level support; and helped 648 individuals start a business.
Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have benefitted from £131.84m in Local Growth Fund, over 3 Growth Deals, and the investments have secured over £28m in private sector investment. The LEP are also working with local partners to develop and implement a newly focused, partnership-led Strategic Framework to reset the local economy for a successful, inclusive, and resilient future. The LEP are committed to driving activities to minimise the negative economic impacts of Covid-19 in Coventry and Warwickshire. This includes the Growth Hub, which offers one-to-one advice and ongoing support to local businesses.
Coventry has also received over £8m funding to support it as the City of Culture 2021. The City of Culture events in Coventry are due to start in May of this year, which will benefit the city in many ways. In previous years this has included increases in investors opening new businesses and more opportunities to support the local community.
The Government’s new ‘Help to Grow’ scheme will help small businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach new customers, and boost profits. Help to Grow: Management will provide intensive management skills support to 30,000 small businesses whilst Help to Grow: Digital could support 100,000 small businesses with online advice and a voucher for software costs. BEIS will be engaging with stakeholders shortly but businesses can register their interest now at https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk/.
[1] Figures do not include regions not able to be specified. For these regions,113 loans were made worth 1,205,641 since 2012 to end February 2021.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent measures his Department has taken to support self-employed workers whose trade is affected by ongoing covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant. This provides certainty to business as the economy reopens and places the SEISS among the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world.
The Government has also announced a major improvement in access to the SEISS. HMRC will now take into account 2019-20 tax returns to determine eligibility and calculate the fourth and fifth grants. This will increase the number of self-employed people who could claim these grants by about 600,000 to a total of up to 3.7 million.
The fourth SEISS grant, available to be claimed from late April, will be worth 80% of average trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering three months’ worth of annual profits, and capped at £7,500 in total.
The fifth and final SEISS grant will cover May to September. Further details of the SEISS grants will be published in due course.
The fourth and fifth SEISS grants constitute an estimated £13.5bn of additional support, taking total support for the self-employed to over £33 billion since the start of the pandemic.
In addition, there have been extensions within the wider package of support for the self-employed.
The temporary £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance has been extended for six months, and the Government has decided to extend the suspension of the Minimum Income Floor for three months, to the end of July 2021, so that where self-employed claimants' earnings have fallen significantly, their Universal Credit award will have increased to reflect their lower earnings.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the £6 billion of additional funding for vaccine development and procurement announced in Budget 2021 will be spent on (a) research and development, (b) manufacturing and (c) procurement; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The UK was the first country in the world to procure, authorise, and start a vaccination programme using the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. The Government has secured access to 457 million doses, across eight different vaccine developers. As of 11 March, over 22.8 million individuals have been vaccinated with a first dose in the UK.
At the Spending Review 2020, the Government announced it had made available more than £6 billion in total to develop, manufacture, and procure COVID-19 vaccines. Of that, we confirmed £733 million in 2021-22 to purchase successful vaccines and £128 million for research and development (R&D) and vaccines manufacturing. Further funding will be allocated from the COVID-19 reserve as needed.
For R&D, we have invested:
At Budget 2021, the Government announced funding of:
For manufacturing, the Government has invested over £300 million to secure and scale-up the UK’s manufacturing capabilities to be able to respond to the pandemic. This includes:
a) Facilities that have come online:
b) Facilities that will come online later this year, to help provide longer-term UK capacity:
In addition to the above, we have also funded the expansion of the Valneva factory in Livingston, Scotland.