Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on classifying coach operators as leisure businesses for the purposes of covid-19 business support grants.

The Government has launched an unprecedented set of support measures to ensure that businesses, such as coach operators, have access to the funds they need to pay essential bills at this difficult time. This includes the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been extended until the end of October. Officials are engaging with both MHCLG and HMT to understand what the ongoing risks and issues are for the coach sector, and how these could be addressed.