"Covid-19 will effect our future relationship with Europe but now is not the time to be calling for a change in the negotiation schedule with the EU," said the CBI's Rain Newton-Smith, is response to a BEIS committee member question about Brexit.

"Right now as a country we need to be focused on how we get through this crisis," she said. "That's a question for another day."

And the BEIS committee session has now ended, so we'll return to our usual business updates.

Image source, PA Media

"It looks like we're going to get a mini-Budget today, and it looks like we're probably going to get a mini-Budget every week from now through to summer," said BEIS committee member Peter Kyle.

"If we're not, then something's going wrong as I suspect the crisis will be fast-moving."

Big firms have an important role to play in supporting smaller businesses through the crisis, reckons Martin McTague of the FSB.

"Prompt payment is absolutely critical," he pointed out.

"If we're going to start ploughing money into businesses that are being starved of cash from their customers, that's a crazy situation to be in.

"Pay as quickly as you can to the smallest suppliers. Government should say that quickly to every business."

Image source, Parliament.tv

BEIS committee member Pat McFadden said "it would be appalling for anyone to lose their home or business over the [coronavirus] situation".

He asked whether there should be a flexible response from the courts for people hit by the current crisis, as well as from financial institutions.

Alasdair Hutchison of the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-employed warned that it could lead to "a knock-on series of policy choices."

For instance, the government would have to decide whether to offer rent relief, he said.

He thinks instead there should be something offered that is close to income protection so that people "can carry on as normal and there's not a need to deal with these second and third order policy choices".

Image source, Getty Images

Some breaking news: fashion chain Laura Ashley has filed for administration.

The troubled retailer had been in talks with stakeholders over refinancing, but it said its “revised cash flow forecasts and increased uncertainty” mean it will not be able to secure these funds in sufficient time.

The retailer operates 150 stores in the UK and employs around 2,700 staff.

It said it hired advisers from PwC to oversee the administration on Tuesday.

Image source, Reuters

There are unseen practical implications of people being temporarily laid off, warned the TUC's Paul Nowak.

"One of our unions flagged with us yesterday the fact that if you're working airside at an airport, you have to have a licence," he told the BEIS committee.

"If you're absent for 60 days you have to go through the licence process all over again."

He pointed out that when our airports open again, they won't have the staff to do so as they'll all have to go through the licence process again.

"You have to understand how deep the implications go," he said.

"It's easy to get diverted onto some of the cold-blooded reactions from some of the larger corporates, but the reality is most people work for small businesses," Martin McTague of the FSB told the BEIS committee.

"A lot of those small businesses are doing the right thing for their employees at some cost to themselves and that's where the government needs to make sure they're properly supported."

He gave an example that he said he had heard yesterday.

"A pub that couldn't trade decided to get its chef to make pies to distribute to old ladies in the village.

"These are people that are responding in a humane way but we don't want them to be the victims of this crisis."

Image source, Parliament.tv

"One area that is worrying me considerably is the self-employed," Martin McTague, policy and advocacy chair at the Federation of Small Business, told the BEIS committee.

He cited plumbers, carpenters, electricians saying: "A lot of those people are saying 'I have to prioritise my income over my health, because I am more frightened about the long-term damage to my income'."

He said the only people that can step in to reassure such folk "is the government".

"The government is going to have to take the role of a benign employer providing the kind of safety-net that ensures that people don't behave in a panicky way and start taking short-term decisions that could damage us all," he said.

Asked if the CBI had an estimate of how many people could be laid off as a result of the Government's announcements yesterday about pubs, cafes and restaurants given that trade body Hospitality UK has warned of 100,000s of redundancies, its chief economist Rain Newton-Smith told the BEIS committee: "It depends on what action is taken now.

"Our priority is to get the right policies in place so we don't end up in that situation," she said. "It is a critical situation for a lot of businesses. That's why we need swift action now is needed to try and protect as many jobs as possible."

"We're now seeing employers talking to to staff about potential lay-offs and redundancies," the TUC's Paul Nowak told the BEIS committee.

"We don't just need to mitigate those redundancies, we need to avoid them in the first place."

He pointed out that packages introduced in other countries - such as Norway and Sweden - "are designed to help employees hold on to staff".

"That will be crucial for the recovery when it comes," he said.

Image source, Parliament.TV

Businesses' priority "is around people at the moment", Rain Newton-Smith, chief economist, Confederation of British Industry told the BEIS committee.

"There are quite a few areas where we need more clarity and support from the government," she said, pointing out that some of the information issued so far - such as on sick pay - had been inconsistent.

Image source, Parliament.TV

Giving evidence to the BEIS committee Alasdair Hutchison, policy development manager, Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-employed, warned: "The key issue here is that this is not just a health crisis, it's an income crisis."

If people face no income for the next three to four months as a result of projects being cancelled or events not happening, then "we need to move towards some kind of temporary income protection fund so people can keep their businesses alive and cover basic income costs," he said.

Image source, Parliament.tv

Paul Nowak, deputy general secretary, Trades Union Congress, has opened the BEIS Committee with a call for some clarity on sick pay.

He acknowledged that the government had announced some positive steps but added: "More is needed. There are still £1.9 million people that don't earn enough to meet the thresholds for statutory sick pay.

"Where it is paid, it's not paid at a sufficient level."

He said half the union's members said the current rate would not give them enough to pay their basic bills.

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is meeting this morning to consider the impact of coronavirus on businesses and workers.

Giving evidence will be Rain Newton-Smith, chief economist, Confederation of British Industry; Paul Nowak, deputy general secretary, Trades Union Congress; Martin McTague, policy and advocacy chair, Federation of Small Businesses; and Alasdair Hutchison, policy development manager, Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-employed.

We'll be bringing you the latest comments from the Committee as they happen.

More on Compass, which is axing up to 4,000 jobs over the next two years. Greg Johnson, analyst at Shore Capital, said:

Image source, Getty Images

Shares in catering giant Compass Group have slumped by a fifth this morning to be the FTSE 100's biggest faller so far today.

That's unsurprising after it warned that the coronavirus would cost hit up to £225m, as we reported earlier.

Its shares have lost 20.87% - or 234.10p - to fall to 887.40p.

That's its lowest level in seven years.

Image source, Getty Images

Britain created more jobs than expected in the three months to January but unemployment rose too by the largest amount since 2011.

The number of people in work rose by 184,000 to 32.985 million, the Office for National Statistics said.

The rise was driven by record quarterly increases in full-time and female employment.

But the figures also showed unemployment rose by 63,000 in the three months to January, the biggest increase since late 2011.

"Today's figures show continuing record employment but also a slight rise in unemployment on the year... This is because we also see a record low rate for people neither working nor looking for work," ONS statistician David Freeman said.

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The owner of currency firm Travelex has called in accountants to prepare for possible insolvency.

Finablr is speaking to lenders, but has hired experts in case the talks fail.

It said: "Following the announcement on 16 March 2020 with respect to Finablr's present liquidity situation and ongoing discussions with its lending banks, the board of Finablr has engaged an accounting firm to undertake rapid contingency planning for a potential insolvency appointment with a view to maximising value in the group."

It came a day after Finablr boss Promoth Manghat left after the firm found undisclosed cheques worth $100m and warned it was "unable to accurately assess" its financial position.

Shares in the firm were suspended yesterday.

Theo Leggett
BBC International Business Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The chief executive of the Volkswagen Group has confirmed that the company plans to shut down production temporarily at a number of its European plants before the end of the week.

Herbert Diess said the move had been prompted by problems obtaining parts and a fall in sales due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Among those closing are several SEAT facilities in Spain, a factory in Portugal, and a major facility near the Slovak capital Bratislava.

The company will also begin preparations to shut down other factories in Germany and elsewhere in Europe over the next two weeks.

Mr Diess did not say whether this would include the group's flagship plant in its home town of Wolfsburg.

However, he added, production in China had resumed with the exception of two factories.

On Monday, two other major car groups, PSA and Fiat Chrysler, also announced extensive short-term factory closures.

Well the early morning rally didn't last long. After opening higher the FTSE 100 has resumed its downward path and is now down 1.6% at 5,069.50.

The FTSE 250 index is also lower, down 2.4% at 14,003.12.