London Olympics boss tasked with leading on PPE; new £500 million business fund announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in latest Downing Street Covid-19 coronavirus briefing
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the funding would provide a vital “bridge” to economic recovery.
He also announced a new £500 million fund for innovative high growth companies.
At the briefing he also announced that the former London 2012 Olympic Games boss, Paul Deighton, will lead efforts to increase supplies pf personal protective equipment (PPE).
The move comes amid growing anger about apparent shortages of PPE.
Mr Sunak said: “What is uppermost in people’s minds is the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).
“This is an international challenge that many other countries are experiencing. Alongside the efforts of British business and the embassies around the world, we are working hard to get the PPE our frontline NHS and social care staff need.
“We have appointed Paul Deighton, formerly chief executive of the London 2012 Olympics, to lead on our domestic effort to increase the supply of PPE and we are receiving shipments of PPE from suppliers in the UK and abroad.
“Today we have unloaded a shipment of 140,000 gowns from Myanmar and we are, of course, continuing to pursue every possible option for PPE procurement.”
On the furlough scheme he said: “Exactly a month a go today I said we would help to pay people’s wages – we promised the support would be available and today HMRC opened the coronavirus job retention scheme at 8am. As of 4pm over 140,000 firms have applied.
“The grants they will receive will help pay the wages of more than a million people, a million people who, if they hadn’t been furloughed would’ve been at risk of losing their job.
"Firms applying today should receive their cash within six working days. HMRC will continue to provide updates on the number of people furloughed.
“In everything we have done, even in our defence against the immediate crisis, we have also been sowing the seeds of our ultimate recovery as we look ahead and start to plan for our ultimate recovery.
"It is critical we don't just maintain companies and jobs that already exist but we also encourage the businesses jobs and technologies of the future.
“Innovation and entrepreneurship have powered growth in our country for centuries and it is what will drive our growth as we recover from this crisis. To that end earlier today I launched two initiatives to support the most innovative firms in the country, worth £1.25 billion.
“First, we will be launching a new future fund worth £500 million to make sure that high growth companies across the UK can continue to access the investment they need during this crisis
“Launching in May, the Future Fund will provide UK-based early stage companies with convertible loans between £125,000 and £5 million – our Future Fund will match investments made by private investors in early stage businesses on terms that protect the UK taxpayer.
“Second, alongside the new future fund the business secretary, Alok Sharma, has worked closely with Innovate UK, our nationa innovation agency, to provide £750 million of grant and loan funding for tens of thousands of innovative firms in every sector, every region and every nation of the UK.”
