Recommendation 4

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government agrees with the Committee on the importance of learning lessons from the impact of the handling of the pandemic, and is committed to doing so. Throughout the pandemic, the Government has continually monitored the economic impact of restrictions and the case for support to mitigate the damage to businesses and protect jobs. The ongoing assessments of impacts of current health measures and other non-pharmaceutical restrictions has been integral in the design of addition funding support for businesses on the high street, as announced by the Government in relation to new COVID-19 variants. On 21 December 2021, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced £1bn in support for businesses most impacted by Omicron across the UK. We have engaged regularly with the retail sector throughout the pandemic and continues to do so. Safe working has been a large part of those discussions and the sector were engaged in the development of safe working guidance for shops. Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets, Paul Scully MP, also holds regular retail roundtables and has done throughout the pandemic. These meetings touch on live issues impacting the sector and provide updates from Government on key areas of interest. Safe working continues to be a key message at these meetings. As for previous funding schemes, data on the funding provided to councils to support their local businesses through the COVID-19 business support grants is published and available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments- to-small-and-medium-businesses. As for previous schemes, we will also monitor and publish data on funding spent per Local Authority as it becomes available. This will also depend on Local Authorities having the capacity to report back to Central Government. BEIS have commissioned an external evaluation of the Business Support Grant programme, for the effectiveness of its delivery.