Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of implications for his policies of the conclusions of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors survey that (a) 50 per cent of businesses surveyed that have a turnover of £45 million or lower, are in danger of going into liquidation in the next three months to a year, (b) 70 per cent of respondents supply to schools, care homes, hospitals and (c) £270 million worth of public sector contracts are at risk; and if he will make a statement.

The Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency including almost £300 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15% of UK GDP. Local Authorities (LAs) can choose to make discretionary grants to businesses in supply chains, like wholesale distributors, if they feel there is a particular local economic need. The Government has allocated up to £617 million to LAs to enable them to give discretionary grants to businesses in this situation. LAs may choose to focus payments on those priority groups which are most relevant to their local areas or to businesses outside of these priority groups, so long as the business was trading on 11th March, and has not received any other cash grant funded by central Government.

Wholesale distributors can also benefit from other elements of the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the four government-backed loan schemes for firms of all sizes. 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.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder.

On 11 May the Government published its COVID-19 recovery strategy which sets out our plan for moving to the next phase of our response. The strategy sets out a cautious roadmap for easing existing measures in a safe and measured way. Our aim is that all non-essential retail will be able to reopen by 15 June if the Government’s five tests are met and they follow the COVID-19 secure guidelines. The roadmap will be kept constantly under review, and we will continue to work hard to support business and workers as the situation evolves. The Department for Transport is engaging with the haulage industry to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the sector.