Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support he has made available for businesses facing closure as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

The Government has introduced an unprecedented package of support for businesses to get through this incredibly challenging period. This includes:

• A Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme;
• Deferring VAT and Income Tax payments;
• A Statutory Sick Pay relief package for SMEs;
• A 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England;
• Small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief;
• Grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000;
• A Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund, with up to £617 million available to Local Authorities to support certain small businesses;
• The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank;
• The Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering facilities of up to £200 million through the British Business Bank;
• The Bounce Back Loan Scheme to help the smallest businesses access loans of between £2000 and £50,000;
• The Future Fund to provide government loans to UK-based companies ranging from £125,000 to £5 million, subject to at least equal match funding from private investors;
• A new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms, helping them bridge coronavirus disruption to their cash flows through loans;
• Extending the HMRC Time To Pay Scheme.

Many businesses have already benefitted from this support. As of 14 June, 1.1 million employers are utilising the Job Retention Scheme, over 900,000 businesses of all sizes have been able to access more than £38 billion of finance through our loan schemes, and more than £10 billion of Small Business and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants have been paid.

As well as this support, the Government is currently taking the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill through Parliament to make changes to insolvency and company law, to:

• introduce new corporate restructuring tools to give companies the breathing space and rescue tools required to maximise their chance of survival; and
• temporarily suspend parts of insolvency law to support directors in continuing to trade through the emergency without the threat of personal liability, and protects companies from aggressive creditor action.

Full details on the support available for businesses can be found on GOV.UK, or through contacting our business support line.