Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the eligibility of wholesalers for Local Authority Discretionary Funds.

The Treasury has engaged closely with other Departments, including the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government throughout the design and implementation of grant support for businesses.

Local authorities in England have received £1.6 billion of discretionary funding through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) to support their local economies and help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. This funding is for additional business support, to complement the Local Restrictions Support Grant for closed businesses.

We encourage local authorities to use their ARG allocations to set up a discretionary grant scheme using this funding for those businesses who are affected by closures, but which are not legally closed themselves, such as wholesalers. However, local authorities run the application schemes for the ARG, and will have significant discretion when it comes to deciding which businesses receive payments. Businesses should contact their local authorities for more information.