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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support local businesses in (a) Bournemouth and (b) England.

The Government is investing £375,000 in Dorset’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to support local businesses in Bournemouth and across Dorset. We have also invested £231,000 in the Dorset Gateway to provide fully funded business support for a range of businesses including SMEs and start-ups. During Covid, we provided nearly £27 billion to local authorities across England through a package of business support including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, business rates relief, grants and loans. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council received £240m of business grant support and reported making over 34,000 payments worth £167m to their businesses.