PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Events Industry: Coronavirus (8 March 2021)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Budget 2021 statement on 3 March 2021, whether the support packages for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses extend to the events and exhibitions sector.

Asked by:
Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

The Government understands this is a difficult time for the events and exhibitions sector who have been acutely impacted by the pandemic.

From April business rate paying businesses in these sectors may be eligible for restart grants of up to £18,000 per business premises. Guidance for Local Authorities (LA) on the eligibility for these grants will be published shortly. In addition, the Government has announced LAs in England will receive a top-up worth a total of £425 million to their allocation from the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), which has already provided LAs with £1.6 billion. This funding is at the LAs discretion and is intended to support businesses which are not eligible for restart grants, but which are nonetheless experiencing a severe impact on their business.

The events and exhibitions sector will also benefit from the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Self Employments Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the UK-wide Recovery Loan Scheme, and may also benefit from the £300m extension to the Culture Recovery Fund announced at Budget. This is in addition to the £1.57 billion provided in July 2020.

Answered by:
Mrs Kemi Badenoch (Conservative)
11 March 2021