There were also consequences arising from insufficiently granular knowledge about small businesses within the departments. We asked officials about the way that scheme designs and initial versions of guidance were unable to provide clarity about whether or how a range of business types were covered.31 This lack of clarity prompted questions from businesses, local authorities and MPs that the government struggled to answer in a timely fashion. Guidance had to be revised or Frequently Asked Que...

There were also consequences arising from insufficiently granular knowledge about small businesses within the departments. We asked officials about the way that scheme designs and initial versions of guidance were unable to provide clarity about whether or how a range of business types were covered.31 This lack of clarity prompted questions from businesses, local authorities and MPs that the government struggled to answer in a timely fashion. Guidance had to be revised or Frequently Asked Questions published, multiple times.32 HM Treasury told us they did their best to manage “dozens of complicated edge cases”; DBT pointed to improvements in Type: conclusion | Number: 17 | Response status: accepted Government response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2024 3.2 The department will, as requested, write to the Committee detailing proposals to improve understanding of small businesses operating in different sectors and on stren