Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of the Additional Restrictions Grant for local authorities under (a) Tier 3 and (b) Tier 4 covid-19 restrictions.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the COVID-19 response. The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) provides an even distribution across England and is equivalent to £20 per head of residential population. Local authorities have discretion on how to support business which may include support for those business not mandated to close but were affected by the restrictions in tier 3 and tier 4. On 5 January the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that local authorities have also been allocated a further £500 million in discretionary funding via the ARG in addition to £1.1 billion already provided.