Oral Answers to Questions

Mary Glindon Excerpts
Monday 18th May 2020

(4 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Rishi Sunak Portrait Rishi Sunak
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It is precisely the retail, hospitality and leisure sector that has received the most direct fiscal support from the Government through cash grants of £10,000 or £25,000 and a business rate holiday for the entire year—well beyond the point of reopening. That represents significant support, and the extension of the furlough scheme through to October gives those companies enough of a runway to grow back into a safe space.

Mary Glindon Portrait Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)
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What plans he has to extend the scope of the coronavirus job retention scheme.

Rishi Sunak Portrait The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rishi Sunak)
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As I announced last week, the coronavirus job retention scheme has been extended by four months until the end of October.

Mary Glindon Portrait Mary Glindon [V]
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New starters not registered with HMRC before 19 March and agency staff workers are some of those who currently find they are in limbo when it comes to accessing the job retention scheme. What more can the Chancellor do to help these workers now facing hardship?

Rishi Sunak Portrait Rishi Sunak
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When I announced the scheme, we said that those who were on real time information and had notified HMRC on 28 February would be eligible. That covers 29.5 million workers in this country. We found a way to extend that to 19 March—the day before the announcement was made. That protects the taxpayer against fraud and enables as many of those people to be included as possible. It brought another 230,000 people into the scheme. It is important to remember that this scheme now covers close to 30 million workers. As of the end of last week, 8 million people from about 1 million businesses are covered by the scheme and having their wages paid by the Government to protect their jobs and their future security.