Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the resilience of the independent hospitality sector to absorb the rising costs of (a) national Insurance, (b) alcohol duty, (c) energy prices and (d) food prices.

The government will protect the smallest businesses and charities by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that in 2025/26, 865,000 employers (43%) will pay no National Insurance Contributions at all.

The alcohol duty cut on qualifying draught products impacts approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall cut in duty bills of over £85million a year.

Since 19 December 2024, Small and Medium Enterprises with fewer than 50 employees have been able to access free support to resolve issues with their energy supplier through the Energy Ombudsman. Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and other manufacturing costs, and Sterling exchange rates.

We continue to work closely with HM Treasury on the challenges facing high street and other businesses.