Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on bed and breakfast owners; and if he will make a statement.

We are aware that these are extremely difficult conditions for tourism businesses such as bed and breakfasts. My officials and I continue to hold detailed discussions with representatives of the holiday accommodation industry, including the Bed and Breakfast Association, to gather as much intelligence as possible on COVID-19’s economic impacts.

The UK Government has announced a comprehensive support package to protect businesses and workers, including B&B owners, against the current economic emergency. This includes the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. We have also introduced a Bounce Back Loan scheme to help small businesses access loans of up to £50,000, with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.

To accommodate certain small businesses previously outside the scope of the business grant funds schemes, the Government has allocated additional funding to Local Authorities in England in the form of a discretionary grant fund of up to £617m. The guidance pertaining to this fund specifically refers to Bed and Breakfasts that pay council tax as being in scope.

We are committed to helping tourism businesses through this crisis – and we will actively encourage people to book holidays as soon as it is safe to do so.