Covid-19: Business

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Excerpts

Wednesday 13th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Finlay of Llandaff) (CB)]

We now come to the 30 minutes allocated for Back-Bench questions. I ask that questions and answers be brief so that we can call the maximum number of speakers.

[Baroness Verma (Con)]

Can my noble friend confirm that businesses in multioccupancy properties where business rates are shared among the businesses and added to the rental agreement are able to access business grants through local authorities? Many businesses I have spoken to have said that they have not been able to do that so far. If not, what is available and how quickly can they access it? Like all businesses, they are having to make adjustments for safe working, and this all comes at a cost.

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[Lord Callanan]

I am indeed happy to confirm to my noble friend that we are very happy to work with all responsible trade unions, and we included them in developing this guidance and we are happy with the many constructive contributions that we receive. We continue to work with them on developing sensible guidance for business that gives UK workers the utmost confidence that they can return to work safely. Of course, we will always consider any new, sensible suggestions.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Lord Hendy. Lord Hendy? We do not have Lord Hendy, so I call Lord Bilimoria.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

My Lords, we are grateful to the Government and the Chancellor for all the help for business, including the extension of the job retention scheme until October. However, the Statement on workplace guidance makes no mention of testing at all, and today it is almost two months since the director-general of the WHO said, “Test, test, test”, and the Prime Minister has said that there is now a target of reaching 200,000 tests a day by the end of this month. Will the Minister tell us whether companies and businesses have access to testing for their workforces so that employees can be tested when they go to work? They can then have the confidence if they have a negative test that they can work knowing that they are healthy, and their colleagues and consumers can also have that confidence. Is testing available widely to employers and businesses now?

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[Lord Callanan]

We have extended the scheme significantly to support firms through the transition out of lockdown. We are doing right by them and expect those firms to do right by their staff. As the economy gradually reopens, it is fair that firms begin to pick up some of the cost of their workers’ salaries, but we will of course want to do this in a specific and phased way to make sure that these businesses can manage to survive and trade their way back to success.

[The Deputy Speaker]

After the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick, I will call the noble Lord, Lord Hendy. I call the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, yesterday the Ulster Bank published a report showing that for the first three months of this year there was a contraction in business activity put down to coronavirus. Can the Minister describe the work that the Government, working with the Northern Ireland Executive, will now do to assist private sector businesses in Northern Ireland to survive the pandemic and to ensure that they can continue with some form of financial and economic activity?

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[Lord Callanan]

My noble friend makes a very good point. I agree that this crisis will result in a long-term increase in the number of people working from home. When an employee must work from home, for example because of the crisis, the employer can pay them a small amount per week, free from income tax and national insurance contributions, to cover additional costs such as heating and power. Alternatively, of course, they can reimburse their actual expenditure. I will certainly ensure that my noble friend’s comments are passed on to the Treasury for consideration for any future tax changes.

[The Deputy Speaker]

My Lords, that concludes the questions on the Statement. I thank all noble Lords for their concise questions and the Minister for his concise answers. The Virtual Proceedings will now adjourn until a convenient point after 8 pm for the Urgent Question repeat.