Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the level of financial support required by non-pub businesses affected by the hospitality curfew during the covid-19 outbreak.

In December, the 10pm closing time for hospitality was modified to last orders at 10pm and closing time at 11pm. This was to allow customers to depart gradually and provide greater flexibility for hospitality venues. The Government recognises that non-pub businesses and restaurants, would have been impacted by these and other restrictions. This is why the Government has acted to deliver support to these businesses through:

• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which has supported 1.4 million jobs across the hospitality sector, and has been extended until the end of April 2021.
• Businesses forced to close can claim grants of up to £3,000 per month. In addition, on 5th January, the Government announced an extra £4.6 billion to protect jobs and support affected businesses as restrictions get tougher. This includes retail, hospitality and leisure businesses forced to close can claim a one-off grant of up to £9,000. Businesses can receive multiple grants, as they are eligible on a per premises basis. The Government expect over 600,000 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure business premises in England to benefit from these grants.
• Local Authorities (in England) will also be given an additional £500 million of discretionary funding to support their local businesses. This builds on the £1.1 billion discretionary funding which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted.
• A VAT deferral for up to 12 months.
• Access to affordable, Government backed finance through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBLS) for and larger firms, along with the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBL) for small and micro enterprises.
• A reduced rate of VAT (5 per cent) to goods and services supplied by the tourism and hospitality sectors.
• A 12-month business rates holiday for all eligible retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in England, saving around 350,000 ratepayers a combined £10bn.

The Government is continuing to collect evidence on the impact of the pandemic on the sector and to work with businesses and representative groups to inform our efforts to support it.