Government has 'paid millions of pounds' to help businesses during lockdown

The government says it's paid millions of pounds to help businesses cope with the latest circuit-breaker lockdown.

Last week, the Department for Enterprise paid out £1.5 million through its Coronavirus Business Support Scheme for March.

It says 1,504 companies received help since the original support scheme was extended to cover the latest lockdown period.

And it says as of last Thursday, the total amount paid out during the March circuit-break stood at £8 million.