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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to increase the financial support available for small businesses in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government has introduced an unprecedented package of support for businesses that are required to close or which are severely affected by the restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19 and save lives.

The measures introduced – including four Government-backed loan schemes, local authority grant funding, tax deferrals and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) – have been designed to be accessible to businesses in most sectors and across the UK.

For business who have been mandated to close during the current national restrictions grants of up to the equivalent of £4,500 per 6 weeks of closure have been made available through the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed). Further one-off grants of up to £9,000 can also be accessed via the Closed Business lockdown Payment.

Local Authorities have been allocated a further £500m in discretionary funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant to support businesses that are significantly impacted by the restrictions even though not required to close, this is in addition to £1.1bn already allocated in November 2020.

The CJRS will remain open until the end of April 2021, with employees receiving 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500.

We have also extended the application deadline for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) until the end of March 2021, ensuring there is further support in place for firms who need it during this ongoing period of difficulty.

Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership are utilising their close working relationships with the public, private and education sectors in the area to develop and implement a newly-focused Strategic Framework, to address local economic needs and ensure economic resilience during and after the pandemic.