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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department takes to assess the effect of out of town development on job retention and creation on high streets.

The Government recognises that this is a challenging time and COVID-19 is having a significant impact on our communities, businesses and town centres.

The Government has provided a comprehensive package of support of £385 billion, to help businesses that have been affected by COVID-19. This package includes business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as well as deferral of income tax payments.  We keep our package of economic support under constant review. The Government will continue to work closely with local authorities, businesses, and business representative organisations to understand the impact of COVID-19 on businesses.