Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether self-catering holiday lets are eligible for support through the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) Scheme covering the period of national restrictions in November 2020 where an existing booking was being honoured starting before 31 October 2020 when the covid-19 lockdown restrictions were announced and continued beyond 5 November 2020 in line with the Coronavirus Update statement on 2 November 2020.

The Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed) is available to all businesses in England that have been required to close due to local or national COVID-19 restrictions.

There are three key considerations when a Local Authority determines the eligibility of a business for a grant under the LRSG (Closed):

• Is the business the business rate payer of a hereditament that appears on the rating list?
• Is the main service of that business required to close due to the restrictions?
• Is the business able to self-declare that it meets all scheme conditions, including eligibility and State aid requirements?

Where an organisation meets all of these criteria, it is considered eligible to receive a grant through the mandatory LRSG (Closed) scheme.

Local authorities are responsible for making decisions on whether a business qualifies for a grant. In doing so they must take into account guidance released by government Statutory Instruments (including exceptions).