Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason the Expanded Retail Discount Scheme excludes bureaux de change premises.

The Government has provided enhanced support to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors through business rates relief given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.

While financial services providers are excluded from business rates relief, a range of further measures to support all businesses, including those not eligible for the business rates holiday, has also been made available.

For example, the Government has launched the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms continue to keep people in employment, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank, and the deferral of VAT payments for this quarter.