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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide flexibility to allow local authorities to redistribute grant funding underspent in one area of business support to other business support schemes.

The Government has put forward an unprecedented package of support for businesses in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. This support includes extensive grant funding for businesses that have been required by law to close as a result of, or have been severely impacted by, localised and national restrictions.

Local Authorities should pay businesses in line with the eligibility criteria and restriction period to which the funding is allocated to ensure local economies are supported during restrictions. Any unspent funding allocated to Local Authorities under a mandatory grants scheme cannot be redistributed to other business support schemes and will be recovered after a reconciliation process. It is not expected that discretionary schemes, such as the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), will have any unallocated funding, as we would expect Local Authorities to apportion this funding to businesses. We are working closely with Local Authorities to ensure funding gets out the door to businesses as quickly as possible.