Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of applications to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme have been declined to date.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
As of 20 September, 66,585 loans have been approved under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, with a total value of £15.45 billion.
The Scheme has received 142,076 applications. The applications figure includes: approved applications; applications that are still to be processed; applications that have been declined; and applications that may turn out not to be eligible or cases where customers will decide not to proceed. Decisions on whether to specifically capture information relating to declined loans are at the discretion of the lender.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on maximising regional benefits for SMEs in trade discussions and negotiations.
Answered by Paul Scully
My Rt. Hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Secretary of State for International Trade regularly discuss a range of issues relating to domestic and international objectives.
Trade is essential to the UK’s success in the longer-term. For example, removing trade barriers with the US through a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement could deliver significant gains to every part of the UK, especially for the 31,600 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across the UK already exporting to the US and providing new opportunities to businesses and entrepreneurs.
The UK and US have set out a mutual commitment to rapidly agree a standalone SME chapter and continue the UK-US SME dialogue. We will continue to seek SME-friendly provisions throughout a UK-US FTA.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to support small businesses in (a) Dudley and (b) throughout the West Midlands.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government-backed British Business Bank (BBB) is working alongside LEPs in the Midlands to deliver the Investment Strategy for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF). To date is has made over £80m of investments in firms located across the Midlands and includes £31 million of private sector leverage.
The Chancellor’s has announced temporary measures to support businesses during the coronavirus outbreak. This support is comprised of two packages that we are asking local authorities in England to administer to support small businesses. They are the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grants Fund.
The first scheme is a £10,000 grant per eligible business. Eligible businesses will be those with a rateable value of £15,000 or less and thus eligible for relief under the Small Business Rates Relief scheme (full relief and tapered relief) or the Rural Rate Relief Scheme. We estimate that this will apply to some 730,000 businesses across England.
The second scheme is the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grants Fund. This fund is intended to support businesses in sectors that we know are being profoundly impacted and which are crucial to local economies across England. The businesses that are eligible will be those that eligible for a discount under the Expanded Retail Discount scheme. Grants will be provided in respect of each property (hereditament); so businesses with multiple outlets would receive more than one grant and may receive grants from separate local authorities.
There will be two levels to this grant: £10,000 for properties with a rateable value for £15,000 or less; £25,000 for properties with a rateable value of more than £15,000 but less than £51,000.