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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what additional support the Government plans to provide to Debenhams staff and suppliers following its brand acquisition by Boohoo.

The DWP Rapid Response Service is in ongoing conversations with Debenhams, who have been offered support from the service. The Rapid Response Service offers support including: helping people write CVs and find jobs; providing information about benefits; helping people to find the right training and learn new skills; and helping with costs like travel to work expenses.

We are helping those who have lost jobs in the pandemic through our £238m JETS (Job Entry Targeted Support) programme and have launched a £2bn Kickstart scheme.

Local authorities have been allocated a further £500m in discretionary funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant to support those businesses that are significantly impacted by the restrictions even though they may not be required to close.  This is in addition to £1.1bn already allocated in November 2020.  Local authorities have discretion to use this funding to support businesses in the way they see fit, which could include supporting businesses which supply the retail sector.