Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of state aid de minimis rule limits on businesses in commercial premises that are affected by cladding issues.

The EU State aid rules no longer apply in the UK, except for aid in scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Subsidies must instead comply with our international commitments on subsidies in the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation agreement (TCA), and other trade agreements, as well as the World Trade Organisation rules on subsidies.

However, where the award of funding for cladding remediation funding was made prior to 1 January 2021 on the basis of the De Minimis rules there is still need to comply with those rules, including a maximum threshold of €200,000 that a business could receive in funding over a three year period.

We are aware of instances where state aid rules have resulted in deductions to the funding provided through the remediation funds, and are working closely with applicants to ensure unsafe cladding is remediated as quickly as possible.