Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal support he plans to put in place for (a) businesses and (b) employees in the event that (i) there is a second wave of the covid-19 outbreak and (ii) there are regional covid-19 lockdowns as a result of that second wave.

The Government has announced unprecedented support for public services, workers and businesses to protect against the current economic emergency

• In the Budget, we set out the first stage of the government’s economic response, with £12bn of support to businesses, households and public services.

• We extended the support available to individuals and businesses, including a business rates holiday, grants to smaller businesses and a package of government-backed and guaranteed loans.

• We announced a package to help individuals affected by the crisis. This covered a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), as well as changes to our welfare system including Universal Credit and Statutory Sick Pay, making support quicker and easier to access, as well as more generous.

• Then on the 26 March we announced even more support to help the self-employed, with the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.

So far, the CJRS has helped 1.1 million employers across the UK furlough 9.2 million jobs, while 2.6 million self-employed individuals had applied for grants worth £7.6 billion in total.

As the economy opens up and we look forward, we will consider how best to support the economic recovery.