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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what additional resources his Department plans to provide to local authorities in support of their role as the main enforcing authority for health and safety in industries including retail, wholesale distribution and warehousing, hotel and catering premises, offices, and leisure during the covid-19 outbreak.

Through the £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund, local authorities are being supported to help safely reopen high streets and other commercial areas. My Department has also issued guidance to help owners and operators of public spaces to identify the issues and potential interventions that can be made to facilitate social distancing in the public realm. We are encouraging all businesses, local authorities, landowners, transport operators and local partnerships to work together to provide for social distancing. My Department recognise that the capacity of specialist enforcement offers will need to be carefully managed. We expect that local authorities will adopt a sensible risk based approach and make judgements about where best to direct their activity to prioritise their public health responsibilities to prevent and control outbreaks.