Nigel Huddleston corrected a written answer on National League: Coronavirus

4 February 2021 · Commons written answer · Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour, Slough) asked written question 145866 on 29 January 2021. Nigel Huddleston answered on 3 February 2021 for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Nigel Huddleston corrected the answer on 4 February 2021. The correction replaced 3 figures (£1.1 billion, £594 million, £9,000) with 4 figures (850, £10 million, £25 million, £300 million). Altogether 382 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent support he has made available to National League football clubs in (a) Slough and (b) England to ensure they can continue playing for the rest of the season.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
~~We have introduced~~ a ~~number of measures since~~ the ~~start~~ of the ~~pandemic~~ to support ~~tourism businesses, including those~~ in ~~Suffolk. This includes~~ the extended furlough and self-employed schemes and various government-backed loans, grant schemes, business rates relief and a reduced VAT rate. To help the sector through the current lockdown, we have announced one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to ~~£9,000 per property. This~~ is in addition to the ~~monthly Local Restrictions Support Grants (Closed). Local Authorities~~ in ~~England~~ have ~~also~~ been ~~given an additional £594 million discretionary funding~~ to support ~~their local businesses. This builds on~~ the ~~£1.1 billion discretionary funding which local authorities in England~~ have ~~already received~~ to support their local economies and help businesses impacted. Both my Department and VisitEngland remain in regular contact with regional tourism stakeholders to ~~assess~~ the ~~substantial economic effects around the country.~~	On 19 November 2020, the government announced a £300 million Sports Winter Survival Package (SWSP) to provide a lifeline to organisations that would otherwise not survive the winter as a result of the restriction on spectators announced from 1 October. A provisional allocation of £25 million was made to support the National League, covering steps one to six, aiming to protect the immediate future of non-league football in England. A further announcement on 27 January 2021 confirmed that Steps 3-6 of the National League system will receive up to £10 million of grant support from the Package to protect the immediate future of approximately 850 clubs over the winter period. Sport England and the Independent Board are currently finalising the details of this support, which will include any support for National League clubs in Slough, should they be eligible. The SWSP support is in addition to the £10 million emergency package we facilitated for the National League from the National Lottery, in October last year, has benefitted the 66 clubs in the steps 1 and 2, and has enabled them to continue playing behind closed doors after the return of fans was paused last autumn. The support packages that have been available to the National League are in addition to the multi-billion pound package of cross-sector business support from the Government that has enabled many sports clubs and leisure businesses to survive, including the furlough scheme and business interruption loan scheme. Sports have accessed many hundreds of millions of pounds of support through this. The Government remains committed to engaging across the sector to maintain a complete picture of the financial impact of Covid-19 to ensure sports venues survive this difficult period wherever possible.

Original

Corrected

~~We have introduced~~ a ~~number of measures since~~ the ~~start~~ of the ~~pandemic~~ to support ~~tourism businesses, including those~~ in ~~Suffolk. This includes~~ the extended furlough and self-employed schemes and various government-backed loans, grant schemes, business rates relief and a reduced VAT rate.
To help the sector through the current lockdown, we have announced one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to ~~£9,000 per property. This~~ is in addition to the ~~monthly Local Restrictions Support Grants (Closed). Local Authorities~~ in ~~England~~ have ~~also~~ been ~~given an additional £594 million discretionary funding~~ to support ~~their local businesses. This builds on~~ the ~~£1.1 billion discretionary funding which local authorities in England~~ have ~~already received~~ to support their local economies and help businesses impacted.
Both my Department and VisitEngland remain in regular contact with regional tourism stakeholders to ~~assess~~ the ~~substantial economic effects around the country.~~

On 19 November 2020, the government announced a £300 million Sports Winter Survival Package (SWSP) to provide a lifeline to organisations that would otherwise not survive the winter as a result of the restriction on spectators announced from 1 October. A provisional allocation of £25 million was made to support the National League, covering steps one to six, aiming to protect the immediate future of non-league football in England. A further announcement on 27 January 2021 confirmed that Steps 3-6 of the National League system will receive up to £10 million of grant support from the Package to protect the immediate future of approximately 850 clubs over the winter period. Sport England and the Independent Board are currently finalising the details of this support, which will include any support for National League clubs in Slough, should they be eligible.
The SWSP support is in addition to the £10 million emergency package we facilitated for the National League from the National Lottery, in October last year, has benefitted the 66 clubs in the steps 1 and 2, and has enabled them to continue playing behind closed doors after the return of fans was paused last autumn.
The support packages that have been available to the National League are in addition to the multi-billion pound package of cross-sector business support from the Government that has enabled many sports clubs and leisure businesses to survive, including the furlough scheme and business interruption loan scheme. Sports have accessed many hundreds of millions of pounds of support through this.
The Government remains committed to engaging across the sector to maintain a complete picture of the financial impact of Covid-19 to ensure sports venues survive this difficult period wherever possible.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1282070?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`833e2fc54da09c71d435ed41f9a649c69ca9179d3d50abaad4a68b7826a00fdb`