Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what further financial steps he is taking to support people in the tourism sector who have become unemployed during the covid-19 outbreak.

In its Plan for Jobs, the Government has announced unprecedented support to help unemployed people in Great Britain find a job. We are providing £1.2bn to significantly expand and enhance work search support, including doubling the number of work coaches, additional investment into the Flexible Support Fund to provide direct support at a local level, and using externally contracted provision to expand support even further.

Employees aged under 25 were about two and a half times as likely to work in a sector that was shut down, such as accommodation, travel and leisure, as other employees.? Recognising that young people are particularly at risk, the government has also launched a new £2bn Kickstart Scheme, creating hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people across Great Britain, as well as a guaranteed foundation of support to all 18-24 year olds on Universal Credit in the Intensive Worksearch group, through its new youth offer.

In England, the government will also support people to build the skills they need to get into work, including by providing funding to triple the number of traineeships and sector-based work academy placements, new payments to employers to hire apprentices and new funding to expand the National Career Service.

These measures will help support people who used to work in the tourism sector, but became unemployed as a result of Covid-19, to get back into work. The Government has also cut the rate of VAT applied to hospitality, accommodation and attractions, from 20% to 5%, for a period of six months which will help the tourism sector in general.

In addition, tourism businesses may be able to benefit from the new Job Support Scheme the government is introducing from 1 November 2020. All Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), including those in the tourism sector, will be eligible. Large businesses will be required to demonstrate that their business has been adversely affected by COVID-19, and the government expects that large employers will not be making capital distributions (such as dividends), while using the scheme.