Create a Minister for Hospitality in the UK Government
209,983 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 6 October 2020; it closed on 6 April 2021. The Government responded on 3 November 2020. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 11 January 2021.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Create a Minister for Hospitality in the UK Government
The UK hospitality industry. Responsible for around 3m jobs, generating £130bn in activity, resulting in £38bn in taxation. Yet, unlike the Arts or Sports, we do not have a dedicated Minister.
We are asking that a Minister for Hospitality be created for the current, and successive governments.
A dedicated Minister would liaise with industry representatives. We believe such a Minister would have been beneficial to Government & Industry during the pandemic.
As the UK seeks to encourage investment & tourism back to the UK in coming years, the vision that UK hospitality industry portrays of the UK is excellence, innovation, inspiration.
We need a Minister who can listen to concerns on taxation & legislation and bring forward suggestions to the chancellor and policy makers on our behalf.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 3 November 2020. Its summary:
Responsibility for the hospitality sector is shared by Ministers in the Departments for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.
The response in full:
The Government recognises the importance of the UK’s hospitality sector, which plays a vital role in supporting local communities up and down the country and the UK economy. The sector is extremely broad, ranging from the arts and entertainment to pubs, cafes and restaurants, and as such responsibility for the sector as a whole is shared by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.
Ministers in both Departments have worked closely with business leaders and representative bodies from across the sector throughout the pandemic to ensure that the interests of the hospitality businesses and their employees are fully represented within Government. Hospitality sector business leaders were consulted on the Government’s Covid-Secure Guidance for businesses, and Ministerial engagement with the sector has helped to shape the Government’s extensive package of business support measures, which has included the job retention scheme, reduced VAT, rates relief, the commercial rent moratorium, hospitality grants, loan support schemes, the self-employed income support scheme, regulatory easements to support outdoor hospitality and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 1,099, came from Battersea.
208,584 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,399 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Battersea | 1,099 |
| New Forest East | 1,032 |
| Cities of London and Westminster | 983 |
| Hazel Grove | 963 |
| Warrington South | 876 |
| Bermondsey and Old Southwark | 853 |
| Streatham | 830 |
| Chelsea and Fulham | 824 |
| Tooting | 812 |
| Vauxhall | 786 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| London | 32,943 |
| South East | 32,153 |
| North West | 30,757 |
| South West | 20,202 |
| East of England | 16,626 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 14,523 |
| West Midlands | 13,724 |
| Scotland | 12,393 |
| East Midlands | 12,047 |
| Wales | 8,218 |
| North East | 6,447 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,905 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 11 January 2021. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/552201.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
f72f19bb54ffe880… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.