Summer Adjournment

Siobhain McDonagh Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

The coronavirus experience has introduced us all to many businesses and organisations in our constituencies, which, however long we have lived in them or represented them, we did not know about. One of those for me was the very thriving events industry in Mitcham and Morden. I have had almost 15 companies approach me, including Larry Walshe Studios, Just 4 Linen, Dash Linen, LightWave Productions, White Light Ltd, Focus Lighting, Tuxedo Express Laundry, Skyline Whitespace and Oxygen Events. What unites them is that they are all part of the events industry, providing services to other bodies, and all of them, without exception, have had no support other than the furloughing scheme. Many of them are now making tens and hundreds and thousands of people redundant.

Events firms that operate from industrial premises and that provide their services on a for-hire basis are not eligible for the Government’s expanded retail discount, under the guidance issued to local authorities, because they do not sell on-site, so are not covered by the definition:

“Hereditaments that are being used for the sale of goods to visiting members of the public.”

Unfortunately, eligibility for this grant is also a prerequisite for accessing the Government’s retail hospitality and leisure grant.

Throughout this crisis, events companies have been viewed by Government as providing services to the industry rather than actually being part of it, despite the fact that they are entirely reliant on this industry for their business. A point of frustration for these business owners is that the Chancellor himself said on 17 March that the event hire companies should be included in the envelope of leisure and hospitality and eligible for the RHLG, saying:

“Those that have business properties will be eligible both for the relief and the grant, which will cover a significant number of events companies that have premises. Obviously, if they do not have premises, they will not qualify for business rates relief, but should be eligible for some of the other measures that I have outlined today.”

Whereas other businesses, such as shops and restaurants, which have already had access to these grants, can open straight back up—I do not wish to underestimate the problems that they, too, are experiencing—these events businesses will have to wait a lot longer before they can reopen. Many events are organised a long time in advance —I am talking about weddings, conferences and concerts.

This is an industry that is worth £70 billion in the UK annually. An article in the Financial Times a week ago estimated that as many as 30,000 jobs could be put at risk if the Government do not step in. There has been a lot of focus on transparency in terms of when the events industry will resume and it is small consolation that the Government have now set the date of 1 October for some events, conferences and expos to resume, which will not make up for the seven months that they have been without meaningful work. Even then, depending on the state of social distancing guidelines by October, it may still not be viable for some businesses to come back, so what are we asking for? We are asking the Government to approach the remaining months of the furlough scheme for event businesses in a different way. Because they cannot come back to work, employers should not have to make a contribution. The scheme should possibly be extended beyond October for certain corners of the events industry, if necessary. We are asking that the Government either revise the guidelines to local authorities to allow events companies to access backdated financial support through the expanded retail discount  and the retail hospitality and leisure grant, or establish a new pool of support for those companies, transparency with businesses and a clear timetable or road map for returning all corners of the events industry as far as possible, so that they can plan and prepare accordingly. Larry Walshe of Larry Walshe Floral Design suggests a VAT reduction in the same way as for other events companies. That will encourage consumers with postponements and engaged couples to plan a wedding for 2021-22.