Select committee: Treasury Committee
Recommendation 6
Eighth Report: Economic impact of coronavirus: the challenges of recovery
Published 11 Sep 2020
Paragraph 60
Addressed to HM Treasury
Treasury Committee Economic impact of coronavirus All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
A large proportion of businesses in sectors such as hospitality and leisure that are suffering most from social distancing may still have a viable long-term future at the end of October. It is not clear to us that the Job Retention Bonus, which all businesses are eligible for, is value for money, given that most of the funds will be spent on workers who would be retained anyway. The Chancellor needs to carefully consider whether a targeted extension of the CJRS and/or other targeted support measures might be required and to explain his conclusion.
From: Treasury Committee, Eighth Report: Economic impact of coronavirus: the challenges of recovery (HC 271), paragraph 60, 11 September 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 November 2020 (deadline 11 November 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Treasury's response sets out the support measures and positions it has taken on the Committee's recommendations, accepting some points, declining others and deferring several to later announcements.
- On recapitalising SMEs, the government has considered proposals including contingent tax liabilities and student loan type structures, but remains "of the view that accredited lenders, not the government, are best placed" to support borrowers repaying government-guaranteed loans.
- On the OBR and levelling up, the government points to the OBR's "clearly defined mandate" and to past reviews recommending "caution" about expanding it, rather than proposing a change.
- On a roadmap to fiscal sustainability, the government will set out further details, including a revised fiscal framework, "in due course, as the economic and fiscal outlook becomes clearer".
- On updating its COVID-19 distributional analysis, the government has "taken note and will consider doing so at an appropriate point", citing difficulties producing it to the same quality across wider characteristics.