Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of rising costs on hospitality businesses in West Dorset.

The Government recognises that hospitality businesses, including those in West Dorset, continue to face cost pressures arising from wider economic conditions. While the Department has not made a specific assessment for West Dorset, we remain in regular dialogue with hospitality representatives, including through the Hospitality Sector Council, on the challenges facing the sector.

We are delivering permanently lower business rates multipliers for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties, backed by a £4.3 billion support package over three years, including transitional relief to protect businesses from large bill increases following revaluation. Later this year we will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy, to help reinvigorate our communities. We have increased and extended the Hospitality Support Fund to £10 million over the next three years so we can continue to help more pubs, help more people into work and find more innovate ways to improve business productivity and sustainability.