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 support micro-enterprises in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England during the covid-19 outbreak.

Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub offers one-to-one advice and ongoing support to businesses with ambitions to grow, and is open to businesses of any size or sector. Since its launch in 2014, the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub has successfully helped thousands of businesses across the region to access funding, tap into supply chains, increase production, and reach their full potential, and has supported the creation of over 5,000 jobs. Through the Local Growth Fund and European funds, LEPs in the West Midlands have supported projects aimed at supporting SME incubation and growth.

In order to protect the livelihoods of those hardest hit, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be extended to September and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue with a fourth and a fifth grant. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that a further 600,000 people, many of whom became self-employed in 2019-20, may now be able to claim direct cash grants under SEISS.

Additional support is also available through Covid-19 Business Grants. Businesses that are required by law to close can access grants of up to the equivalent of £4,500 per 6-week period via the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed). This support is available until 31^st March 2021.

Businesses that were required to close at the beginning of national restrictions on 5^th Jan will also be eligible for a one-off payment of up to £9,000 to help them through the difficult Spring period, via the Closed Businesses Lockdown Payment.

The Chancellor announced in the Budget that from 1^st April, one-off Restart Grants of up to £6,000 for non-essential retail, and up £18,000 for hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation businesses, will be available to support them to reopen as Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed.

The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) continues to enable Local Authorities to put in place discretionary business support. Local Authorities are free to provide support that suits their local area best, including to support those businesses not required to close but which have had their trade severely affected by the restrictions. The Chancellor has announced an additional £425m will be made available to the ARG that more than £2bn has been made available to Local Authorities since November 2020.