To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses in the night-time economy in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England.
Answered on
21 January 2022
The Government’s response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 enabled businesses across the night-time economy, including nightclubs, to remain open over the holiday period as Plan B measures were introduced in England.
Recognising the impact of Omicron, the Chancellor announced a further £1 billion of support including one-off grants for hospitality, accommodation and leisure businesses and over £100 million discretionary funding for Local Authorities to support other businesses. Eligible businesses can also access an additional £30 million available through the Culture Recovery Fund Over the course of the pandemic, the Government has provided £400 billion of businesses support
The success of our vaccine and booster programme is now allowing us to revert to Plan A. As a result, the Government is no longer asking people to work from home and, as of 27 January, nightclubs and events venues are no longer required by law to check visitors’ NHS COVID Pass. They can still choose to use the NHS COVID Pass on a voluntary basis.