Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Johnson of Lainston on 1 February (HL1695), what assessment they have made of the impact of not renewing the Recovery Loan Scheme on small businesses in deprived areas who have received loans from Community Development Financial Institutions after being turned down for loans from high street banks.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Lenders are currently offering over £100 million of additional lending per month through the British Business Bank’s Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS), with 85 per cent of facilities going to small and micro businesses. RLS is particularly effective at serving alternative and social lenders, with more than three quarters of lending delivered through smaller lenders, including Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI). Since launch, RLS has enabled almost £50 million of CDFI lending: over 90% of the businesses which borrowed from CDFIs in 2023 had been turned down by another lender, and half were based in the UK’s most disadvantaged areas.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Johnson of Lainston on 1 February (HL1695), what assessment they have made of the impact of not renewing the Recovery Loan Scheme on small businesses in deprived areas who have previously been turned down for loans by high street banks.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Lenders are currently offering over £100 million of additional lending per month through the British Business Bank’s Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS), with 85 per cent of facilities going to small and micro businesses. RLS is particularly effective at serving alternative and social lenders, with more than three quarters of lending delivered through smaller lenders, including Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI). Since launch, RLS has enabled almost £50 million of CDFI lending: over 90% of the businesses which borrowed from CDFIs in 2023 had been turned down by another lender, and half were based in the UK’s most disadvantaged areas.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the Recovery Loan Scheme which is due to expire in June; and if so, when this will be announced, and when it will be extended until.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As at 30 June 2023, businesses had drawn more than 20,000 facilities, totalling more than £4.34bn, through the Recovery Loan Scheme.
We are consulting with lenders and business representative organisations on how best to continue to support businesses, including on the role of a government-backed loan guarantee scheme. Any such scheme would be announced in Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their justification of the levy of import tariffs on goods and produce that are not produced by UK manufacturers and producers.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Global Tariff (UKGT) applies when exceptions, such as preferential treatment under a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, do not apply.
In designing the UKGT, the Government balanced the interests of UK producers and consumers, and strategic trade objectives such as its FTA agenda and its commitment to developing countries to reduce poverty through trade. For example, tariffs on certain goods have been retained to maintain preferential access for developing countries.
As with all policy, we welcome feedback which can be submitted using the feedback form available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tariffs-on-goods-imported-into-the-uk