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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business,Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to provide support to (a) local authorities and (b) Local Resilience Forums for the allocation of undistributed funding to businesses in Hampshire that are facing financial difficulties as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government has put forward a package of support for businesses in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. As part of this, as at 21 June, local authorities in Hampshire had paid out over £225 million to over 18,000 business premises under the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund.

On 1 May, the Government announced the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund to support businesses previously out of scope of the existing grant funding schemes. In Hampshire, a further £12 million has been made available to support local businesses through this additional fund.

The Government is working closely with all local authorities to ensure grant funding reaches businesses as quickly and efficiently as possible. As part of this, we have provided detailed guidance and FAQs, regular briefings, and one-to-one support from the Department, as well as a communications toolkit.

Once the schemes have closed, any unallocated funds will be subject to a reconciliation exercise with the Government. We will also provide additional funding to local authorities to meet the administrative costs of delivering this policy.

We are keeping in close contact with local authorities to understand how the schemes are rolling out.