Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's Tackling Obesity strategy, published in July 2020, what assessment he has made of the potential financial effect of bringing forward legislative proposals on imposing restrictions on the (a) promotion and (b) location of food products in shops on (i) small shops, (ii) medium-sized shops and (ii) shops located on high streets.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We carefully consider all views and potential impacts of our measures to reduce obesity. This includes feedback from a wide range of experts and stakeholders on specific policy proposals and in response to our public consultations.
Micro and small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) are exempt from both the volume price restrictions and the location restrictions. Stores that are smaller than 185.8 square metres (2,000 square feet) (even if they are part of a medium or large business with 50 or more employees) will be exempt from the restrictions on location.
The final impact assessments on the proposals to restrict the promotion of foods high in fat, salt and sugar by location and by volume is available at the following link:
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing micro businesses with fewer than five employees access to the Help to Grow programme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Help to Grow programmes will support UK small businesses to scale and grow as they recover from the pandemic. Help to Grow: Management will provide intensive management skills support to 30,000 small businesses. Help to Grow: Digital aims to support 100,000 small businesses, through an online platform to support businesses to adopt technology and a voucher for software costs.
The eligibility criteria ensures funding is used where it will have the greatest overall impact in saving time and money across businesses, and strikes the best possible balance between helping a large number of businesses and promoting the greatest productivity benefit per business. Firms with fewer employees can still benefit from free, impartial advice through the online platform.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what Government (a) initiatives and (b) schemes are available to micro businesses with fewer than five employees to help them grow and scale up.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government offers a range of support to help businesses, including micro businesses, grow and thrive.
Businesses of all sizes can access advice and support through our online support at GOV.UK, including the online Finance Finder and via the free Business Support Helpline.
The network of 38 Growth Hubs across England plays a key role in providing tailored support to businesses at a local level in England, joining up national and local business support so businesses can find the help they need.
The Start-Up Loans Company provides funding and intensive support to new entrepreneurs. Since 2012 the Start-Up Loans programme has delivered 81,608 loans overall in the UK, supporting over £707.6m of funding (as of 28 February 2021).
Businesses can also access the Government-backed British Business Bank’s online Finance Hub, which helps raise awareness of appropriate finance options for scale-up, high growth and potential high-growth SMEs.
Micro businesses are also able to apply for relevant elements of the continued comprehensive package of support designed to help as many businesses as possible during this challenging period. The measures introduced include the small business grants, the coronavirus loan guarantee schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the deferral of VAT and income tax payments, and more. These measures have been designed to be accessible to businesses in most sectors and across the UK.
Further measures have been announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer that build on the significant support already available as well as set out how current support will evolve and adapt. This includes the extension of the CJRS until the end of September 2021, extending and amending the coronavirus loan guarantee schemes to allow businesses more time and greater flexibility to repay their loans, and the extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to a fourth and a fifth grant.
The Government continues to work closely with local authorities, businesses, business representative organisations, and the financial services sector to monitor the implementation of current support and understand whether there is additional need.
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 assessment they have made of the threat to small businesses from cyber-attacks; and what steps they are taking to support small business to improve their cyber defences.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2020 found almost half (46%) of micro and small businesses reported cyber security breaches or attacks in the past 12 months. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) 2020 Annual Review identified an increase in ransomware and phishing attacks over the past year.
The National Cyber Security Strategy sets out the government’s work to protect the UK online and help ensure all organisations, large and small, are effectively managing their cyber risk. The NCSC, working closely with trade bodies, local initiatives, banks and industry partners, provides a range of actionable guidance, training and easy to implement tools to help small businesses improve their cyber security. Last month, the NCSC launched a state-of-the-art tool which creates a personalised ‘Cyber Action Plan’ for small businesses as part of the cross-government Cyber Aware campaign.
DCMS is carrying out a review of business resilience and cyber security to identify what more can be done to build cyber resilience across the economy and increase security in supply chains.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Bounce Back Loans businesses have taken up by business size; and what the value is of those loans by business size.
Answered by Paul Scully
A breakdown on the number of loans offered through the Bounce Back Loan scheme as of 26 January 2021 is in the table below.
Business Size | No. of Facilities | Value (£) |
Micro | 1,311,041 | 37,408,683,602 |
Small | 134,600 | 6,505,697,212 |
Medium | 3,098 | 131,529,621 |
Mid-sized | 3,304 | 141,820,279 |
Large | 171 | 7,195,275 |
Total | 1,452,214 | 44,194,925,990 |
The categories are based on turnover and breakdown as follows:
Micro: Turnover
Small: Turnover between £632K and £10.19 million
Medium: Turnover between £10.2 million and £24.9 million
Mid-Sized: Turnover between £25 million and £500 million
Large: Turnover > £500 million
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 protect small and micro businesses from closure as a result of the covid-19 outbreak in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government introduced an unprecedented and comprehensive package of business support measures to help as many individuals and businesses as possible during this difficult period.
This support package included measures such as the small business grants, the coronavirus loan guarantee schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the deferral of VAT and income tax payments, and more. These measures were designed to be accessible to businesses in most sectors and across the UK.
Further measures were also announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer that build on the significant support already available, as well as set out how current support will evolve and adapt. This includes the extension of the CJRS until the end of April 2021, the extension of the coronavirus loan guarantee schemes until 31 March 2021, and the introduction of Pay As You Grow measures, meaning businesses now have the option to repay their Bounce Back Loans over a period of up to ten years. Businesses who also deferred VAT due from 20 March to 30 June 2020 will now have the option to opt-in to a scheme to allow them to pay in smaller instalments up to the end of March 2022, interest free. Businesses and individuals can use our checker tool on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support to quickly and easily determine whether they are eligible for any further financial support at this time.
Additionally, businesses and individuals are able to access tailored advice through our Freephone Business Support Helpline, online via the Business Support website, or through their local Growth Hubs in England. The Government will also continue to work closely with Local Authorities, businesses, Business Representative Organisations, and the financial services sector to monitor the implementation of current support.
During this period of national restrictions business mandated to close have been able to access grants of up to £4,500 per six-week closure period. The Government has also announced an additional payment for closed businesses of £9,000 to help businesses through to the Spring.
For those businesses not mandated to close but who have had their trade adversely affected by restrictions local authorities have been allocated a further £500m in discretionary funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant, in addition to £1.1bn already allocated in November 2020.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any of the (1) financial, and (2) advisory, aid assistance they give to (a) Morocco, (b) Algeria, and (c) Tunisia, is targeted at youth unemployment.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK does not provide budget support to Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia, but it does provide some Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding through trusted implementing partners. Much of this assistance is focussed on improving the economic conditions for job creation in the region, through facilitating greater exporting and inward investment (Tunisia), supporting public administration and state owned enterprise reform (Tunisia) and improving financial regulation and infrastructure (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) to increase access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises.
In recent years the UK has also supported the formulation of Algeria's Vision 2035 for a prosperous economy and technical advice on aspects of Morocco's business environment. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact is currently undertaking a review of UK government work pertaining to youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa region, which is due to be published later in 2021.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support the hospitality industry during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown period.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
On 5 January the Chancellor announced one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses through to the Spring.
The cash is provided on a per-property basis to support businesses through the latest restrictions, and is expected to benefit over 600,000 business properties, worth £4 billion in total across all nations of the UK. This grant comes in addition to the Local Restriction Support Grants worth up to £3,000 a month for closed businesses.
A further £594 million is also being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants, that might be affected by the restrictions. This funding also comes in addition to £1.1 billion further discretionary grant funding for Local Authorities.
The Government is also delivering support to the hospitality sector through:
The Government is continuing to collect evidence on the impact of the pandemic on the hospitality industry and work with businesses and representative groups to ensure that support provided is right for this industry and the economy as a whole.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to support small breweries during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that breweries have been acutely disrupted by recent necessary restrictions to hospitality businesses.
On the 5 January the Chancellor announced that £594 million is being made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support businesses ineligible for grants for closed businesses, but who might be impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. This funding comes in addition to the £1.1 billion discretionary grant for Local Authorities previously announced. Local Authorities have discretion to determine how much funding to provide to businesses and have the flexibility to target local businesses that are important to their local economies.
Breweries have and will continue to benefit directly from Government support schemes, and indirectly from the support offered to the pubs and restaurants they supply, protecting jobs in the industry. The Government has acted to deliver support through:
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will undertake an immediate review of all covid-19 related support available to the hospitality sector in order to implement changes to the structure and format of support to allow suppliers to benefit alongside venues.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that businesses within the hospitality supply chain have been acutely disrupted by recent necessary restrictions to hospitality businesses. The Government has acted to deliver support to these businesses, and ease cash flow problems for businesses through:
In addition to this wide-ranging package of support, we have also ensured businesses can access affordable, Government backed finance through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBLS) for larger firms and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBL) for small and micro enterprises. Under both CBILS and BBLS, invoice finance facilities in addition to term loans, overdrafts, and asset financing facilities are available to eligible businesses. Businesses will also be given until the end of March to access the BBLS, CBILS, and the CLBLS. ‘Pay as You Grow’ options are also available for businesses which have taken out loans through BBLS or CBILS, giving a longer repayment period and allowing further flexibility on repayments.
These businesses have and will continue to benefit directly from Government support schemes, and indirectly from the support offered to the pubs and restaurants they supply, protecting jobs in the industry. In the meantime, the Government will continue to engage with the sector and keep under review the case for further interventions, including measures to ease cash flow problems.