Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the granularity of data produced by the ONS for the purposes of policy decisions relating to support for businesses.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government is committed to working closely with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to ensure continued improvements to data and statistics.

In 2016, Sir Charles Bean published an independent review of economic statistics. This made several recommendations, including to make data more granular and timely through greater use of large scale datasets. The government fully supported those recommendations and has since provided the ONS with £25m to implement them, which led to improvements such as use of VAT data in National Accounts estimates, and the publication of monthly GDP.

Subsequently, at Spending Review 2021, the government funded ONS to undertake a further ambitious programme of improvements to its suite of economic statistics. This includes introducing scanner data into price statistics and further upgrades to the granularity of business statistics through greater use of administrative data.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to provide local authorities with an (a) application form template, (b) eligibility pre-payment checklist guide and (c) FAQ document to support assessments of eligibility for business recovery grants to help with recovery from the impact of Storm Babet.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Further to activation of the Flood Recovery Framework following severe flooding caused by Storm Babet, the Business Recovery Grant will support eligible business premises within qualifying flooded areas to help with recovery.

Administered by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), local authorities will receive funding equivalent to £2,500 per eligible business premises, to help support recovery in the immediate aftermath of Storm Babet.

An application form template, eligibility pre-payment checklist guide and a FAQ document to support assessments of eligibility for business recovery grants have been issued to Local Authorities to support them in administering the grant.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps his Department has taken to support business activities which (a) improve the climate, (b) reduce poverty and (c) reduce inequality.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The government provides extensive support to all types of UK businesses, including those with activities focused on improving the climate and reducing poverty and inequality, through our Business Support Helpline, 38 Growth Hubs, Start Up Loans programme and Recovery Loan Scheme.

The Department for Business and Trade has dedicated teams in the UK and overseas that support clean growth technologies, such as renewable energy, to secure investment, grow in the UK and find export opportunities. We undertake a range of promotional activities working with businesses across the supply chain on an ongoing basis, including investment project support, targeted export campaigns and a network of UK and overseas based trade advisors to provide advice and support.

Internationally, the UK is committed to growing free and fair trade with developing countries, boosting economies, reducing poverty and supporting jobs in those countries as well as in ours. We achieve this by improving UK market access for businesses in developing countries through our Economic Partnership Agreements and the new Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which will come into force on 19 June. UK trade preferences reduce import costs for businesses by over £750m per year.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Ninth Report of Session 2021-22 of the Public Accounts Committee entitled Fraud and Error, HC 253, published on 30 June 2021, if he will take steps to implement the recommendation on introducing a presumption that the business beneficiaries of Government support schemes will be published.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In the Government Response to the Ninth Report of Session 2021-22 of the Public Accounts Committee entitled Fraud and Error, the Government did not agree with the Public Account Committee’s recommendation to introduce a presumption that the business beneficiaries of Government support schemes should be published.

The Government has a duty to protect the personal data and privacy of the smallest businesses in the UK, therefore the Government must exercise discretion on transparency requirements in the case of some business beneficiaries. Details of facilities made available under the COVID-19 loan schemes have been published where required.

We have always been clear that fraud is unacceptable. The Government is taking action against those who have de-frauded the system by working closely with law enforcement, counter-fraud agencies and commercial lenders. The lack of publication has no bearing on the ability of the National Auditing Office to audit support schemes.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to assist businesses to grow; and how much funding his Department has allocated to financing business accelerators.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government seeks to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business, creating a supportive environment that gives businesses the stability and confidence they need to invest and grow.

The Hon. Member will be aware that York University recently joined the Northern Accelerator partnership, which supports academics to turn their world-leading research into investible businesses. This initiative is supported by Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund. Because funding for this and other business accelerators is provided through a range of programmes and partner organisations, an overall total is not available.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant of the Answer of 1 November 2022 to Question 69604 on Business: Government Assistance, for what reasons his Department has not sought access to the list of businesses identified by Begbies Traynor as being in financial distress.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Each business is unique and business owners are best placed to assess the actions they need to take. They may seek advice from their accountant or another trusted source, tailored to their individual circumstances. The government does not offer individual financial advice and hence has not sought to contact the businesses identified by Begbies Traynor as being in financial distress.

The Government’s goal is to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business. This means providing a supportive business environment, including access to the resources described in the answer to which the Hon. Member refers.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce new business support packages; and what financial resources they will make available.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

The Government recognises the challenges faced by people across the UK due to rising living costs. This is why the Government is helping all eligible UK businesses with their energy bills through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.

The Chancellor has announced the Autumn Statement will be delivered on 17 November. This will contain the UK’s Medium-Term Fiscal Plan and will be accompanied by an OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlook. This will set out how the government will further support businesses.

We have brought forward a number of measures to support businesses this year, including extending the Recovery Loan Scheme until June 2024; freezing the business rates multiplier for 2022-23; cutting business rates by 50% for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in 2022-23 up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business; and permanently setting the Annual Investment Allowance at its highest ever level of £1 million from 1 April 2023.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to help support the businesses identified by Begbies Traynor Group PLC as being in significant financial distress.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Business support is demand-led and business owners are encouraged to seek advice and support based on their individual circumstances. The government has no plans to seek access to the list of businesses identified by Begbies Traynor as being in financial distress.

The Business Support Helpline on 0800 998 1098 enables SMEs in England to access support of all kinds, including grants, loans and business advice. Equivalent services are available in the devolved administrations as follows:

Business Support Scotland - 0300 303 0660;

Business Wales Helpline - 0300 060 3000;

Invest Northern Ireland - 0800 181 4422.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he will take to support businesses that have reported as being in significant financial distress.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government has reversed the National Insurance rise, which will save SMEs approximately £4,200 on average, cut fuel duty for 12 months and brought in the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, to protect small businesses from high energy costs over the winter.

Additionally, the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) is designed to help SMEs access finance they would otherwise not be able to access commercially. The current iteration of the scheme was launched on 1 August 2022 and supports finance up to £2 million per business group. RLS is available through 38 accredited lenders including banks, asset finance providers, regional and social lenders.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department plans to take to help businesses with (a) reduced demand and (b) increased costs.

Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price

The recently announced Energy Bill Relief Scheme (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-outlines-plans-to-help-cut-energy-bills-for-businesses) ensures that all businesses and other non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period. A review of the scheme, to be published in three months, will identify the most vulnerable non-domestic customers and how the government will continue assisting them with energy costs after the initial six months.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure that opportunities for business growth are assessed.

Answered by Jane Hunt

Government monitors and evaluates our business support programmes to ensure that opportunities for business growth are assessed. In addition to this independent sources have found:

• Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity in the UK in 2021 was 12.6%, increased from 7.8% in 2020[1].
• The UK was the third largest destination in Europe for foreign direct investment in 2021, receiving $27.6bn in inward FDI[2].
• The UK is a centre of global finance and has the strongest venture capital market in Europe, more than France and Germany combined[3].
• The number of scale-ups* stand at 34,000, a rise of 8% over 5 years, and scale-ups account for around 13% of private sectors businesses with 10+ employees.

[1] Global Entrepreneurship Monitor – 2021 Global report

[2] OECD, Most recent FDI statistics for OECD and G20 countries

[3] Tech Nation (2020), UK Tech for a Changing World (https://technation.io/report2020/#11-global-investment-trends) https://technation.io/report2021/#key-statistics

* businesses with 10+ employees with either turnover or employment growth of over 20%

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support local businesses in (a) Bournemouth and (b) England.

Answered by Paul Scully

The Government is investing £375,000 in Dorset’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to support local businesses in Bournemouth and across Dorset. We have also invested £231,000 in the Dorset Gateway to provide fully funded business support for a range of businesses including SMEs and start-ups. During Covid, we provided nearly £27 billion to local authorities across England through a package of business support including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, business rates relief, grants and loans. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council received £240m of business grant support and reported making over 34,000 payments worth £167m to their businesses.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to allow the backdating of eligibility for access to covid-19 business support based on rateable value in cases where the Valuation Office Agency has backdated a reduction in rateable value to before the pandemic in response to an appeal made before the covid-19 outbreak but only determined in November2021; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

To ensure payments could be made quickly and efficiently to businesses, eligibility for COVID-19 business grants was linked to the business rates system and a property’s rateable value.

The £51,000 threshold for the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLG), which both closed in August 2020, was based on the existing small business rates multiplier. This served as an established definition that local authorities could use to quickly make payments to businesses that were less likely to have sufficient cash reserves to meet their fixed costs. However, as the pathway of the virus evolved, the economic impact on businesses changed and the Government responded by adapting the scope and qualifying criteria for various support schemes. In the case of grants, business premises with a rateable value of over £51,000, and in the most impacted sectors, were eligible for the grant schemes introduced from August 2020. From August 2020 to July 2021, businesses have been able to benefit from the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG), a pro-rata grant payment of up to £3,000 a month. This is in addition to the Closed Business Lockdown Payment, a one-off payment of up to £9,000, and a Restart Grant of up to £18,000.

The guidance for local authorities for the grant schemes stipulated that any changes to the rating list after the date in which a grant scheme started, including changes which have been backdated to this date, should be ignored for the purposes of eligibility. Local authorities were not required to adjust, pay or recover grants where the rating list was subsequently amended retrospectively. This means that businesses whose rateable value was over the threshold of £51,000 but has since been reduced will not be eligible for the SBGF or the RHLGF, nor will they have to repay the more generous grants they subsequently received between August 2020 and July 2021.

The rateable value of any non-domestic property is intended to represent the annual rent a property would achieve if let on the open market at a valuation date which is set in law. All non-domestic properties are assessed on this basis by the Valuation Office Agency in England, independently of central Government.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) effectiveness of the that role district councils played in the rapid deployment of the £9 billion covid-19 business support grants programme and (b) impact that role had on preserving businesses and jobs; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The Government has introduced an unprecedented package of support for businesses, including grants for those businesses that are required to close, or which are severely affected by the restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19 and save lives. Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has allocated a total of over £26 billion on business grants. All Covid-19 Business Grant schemes have been administered through lower tier local authorities in England

The Government recognises the important and valuable contribution that local government employees make to the delivery of excellent public services, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has presented real and complex challenges for local authorities and has put their resources under pressure.  

The Government continues to work closely with local authorities in England to support the implementation of business grants during the Covid-19 pandemic and monitor the distribution of grant funds.

Found: If local government is weaker, central government is weaker. 4 Parliamentary Material Business: