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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) protect, and (2) promote, the hospitality sector in the (a) short, (b) medium, and (c) long, term.

The Government moved to Plan B in England as it was necessary to control the spread of transmission of the new threat posed by the Omicron variant and the potential impact on businesses. In order to support all businesses across the UK economy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have provided businesses with an unprecedented support package of £400 billion, including grants, loans, business rates relief, VAT cuts and the job retention scheme. This includes a total of over £26bn in business grants.  The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund is open until March 2022.

We are also engaging closely with the hospitality sector to listen to their concerns and help them in their recovery. Additionally, we are working closely with the sector through the Hospitality Sector Council to implement the hospitality strategy which was launched in July. The strategy sets out how the UK government will work with the hospitality sector, as it reopens and recovers from COVID-19, to build the sector’s longer-term resilience. It includes a dedicated recovery working group, made of sector organisations, businesses and government officials, looking at solutions to manage urgent Covid 19 impacts on the sector.