Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to provide financial assistance to support rural community pubs.

We are providing £1.85 million towards the £3.62 million 'More Than a Pub' Community Pub Business Support Programme which will, over 2016/17 and 2017/18, help local communities to acquire their local pubs. The programme offers wrap-round support including specialist advice, grants and loans.

From 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2016 we provided Pub is The Hub with £270,000 to deliver 80 diversification projects and 100 new community-focussed services and facilities for rural pubs, and from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2015 provided Plunkett Foundation with £80,000 to support communities to own their local pubs.

This is in addition to wider Government measures supporting pubs including the freeze in beer duty at Budget 2016, which followed cuts in the previous three Budgets, and the scrapping of the beer duty escalator.