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Local authority administered COVID grant schemes

Status: Closed Opened: 29 Mar 2023 Closed: 18 Nov 2023 2 recommendations 25 conclusions 1 report

COVID-19 pandemic restrictions varied over time and between different parts of the country, but all had an impact on businesses, many of which were forced to temporarily close or curtail their operations. The government announced in early March 2020 that it would provide grants, administered by local authorities, to support smaller businesses in England. The …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority administered COVID su… HC 1234 6 Sep 2023 27 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items
3 Conclusion Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority a… Acknowledged

Improve departmental understanding of small businesses and strengthen mechanisms for acting upon their feedback.

Central government’s distance from the practical realities on the ground meant confusion, delays and uncertainty for small businesses and local authorities. Business, local authorities and MPs all experienced at times a lack of clarity about precisely which businesses were covered by which schemes, and experienced delays when seeking clarification from …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation to improve understanding of small businesses and strengthen feedback mechanisms, but provides no specific actions or plans on how this will be achieved.
HM Treasury
5 Recommendation Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority a… Acknowledged

Set out evaluation conclusions and capture pandemic business support lessons for future policy.

We do not yet know the impact achieved by the £22.6 billion provided to businesses, or how much money was spent that might not have been needed. Government set up grant schemes knowing that they would provide too much to some businesses and not enough to others, particularly for the …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation but provides no specific details on what DBT has concluded from the Ipsos evaluation or HM Treasury's plans to capture lessons from pandemic business support.
HM Treasury
6 Conclusion Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority a… Acknowledged

Develop contingency plan for future business financial support and understand local government system capabilities.

The government did not have in place a plan for how it would provide support to businesses during a national emergency like the pandemic. At the time the pandemic started there were no contingency plans in place between central and local government on how to provide support to businesses. HM …

Government response. The government agrees and states it is currently drafting guidance and will consider recommendations from pending reports when planning future schemes. It will also seek to enhance its understanding of local government system capabilities through ongoing collaboration.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
11 May 2023 Anastasia Osbourne · Department for Business and Trade, David Bickerton · Department for Business and Trade, Gareth Davies CB · Department for Business and Trade, Phil Duffy · HM Treasury View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters
DateDirectionTitle
12 Jun 2023 — Correspondence from Gareth Davies, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business…
24 May 2023 — Correspondence from Philip Duffy, Director General, Growth and Productivity, HM…