Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help people that are employed on regular seasonal contracts in the (a) tourism industry and (b) Royal National Lifeboat Institution during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor has set out unprecedented support for workers - including seasonal workers across the tourism industry - to protect them against the current economic emergency. This includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.
After consultation with businesses, we have changed the cut-off date for employees to be employed and paid from 28 February to 19 March (the day before the Job Retention Scheme was announced). This means that over 200,000 more people will benefit.
This change expands the scheme to cover more workers, whilst keeping the fraud risks under control.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to support the tourism industry to rebuild following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to helping the tourism industry through this crisis and beyond. We will continue to engage with stakeholders to assess how we can most effectively support the sector during the recovery period.
We have announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency. This includes employee support, business rates relief and grants for eligible hospitality and leisure businesses, plus £330bn worth of government backed and guaranteed loans. The Chancellor also announced a Bounce Back loan scheme to help small businesses access loans of up to £50,000, with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.
Our immediate national priority is containing the spread of the virus. As soon as it is safe to do so, we will be encouraging people to book holidays and support tourism companies once again.