Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Government guidance entitled Covid-19 support for businesses, what plans he has to enable mobile hospitality businesses that operate from property classed as storage for business rate purposes to access the support that is available to the rest of the hospitality sector.

The Government has launched two grants schemes to support small businesses during this difficult time.

• The Small Business Grant Fund provides eligible businesses with a £10,000 grant per property, for each property in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) or Rural Rates Relief (RRR).

• The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund provides eligible businesses with a £10,000 grant per property, for each property used for these purposes with a rateable value of £15,000 or less and which is not in receipt of SBRR or RRR. Businesses are also eligible for a £25,000 grant per property, for each property used for these purposes with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000.

These schemes have been designed to support the smallest businesses, and smaller businesses in some of the sectors which have been hit hardest by the measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

In order to ensure that payments can be made as quickly as possible to businesses in need, the schemes have been designed based on property classifications. So only public-facing properties used for retail, hospitality, or leisure services are eligible for the specific grants for those sectors.

This is to keep the schemes simple for Local Authorities (LAs) to deliver in order to ensure that support can reach businesses in need quickly. It would be difficult to assess whether storage units are used for retail, hospitality, or leisure services as opposed to other uses. LAs would need to create an entirely new system and to put in place appropriate anti-fraud checks. This would significantly increase LAs’ workloads at a time when they are already working under pressure to support struggling businesses as quickly as possible.

However, small businesses which are not eligible for these schemes should be able to benefit from other measures in the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including:

• An option to defer VAT payments by up to twelve months;

• The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS);

• The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when the schemes open and how to apply - https://www.businesssupport.gov.uk/coronavirus-business-support/