Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to allow recipients of funding from the Bounce Back Loan scheme to reapply for the scheme in the event that they did not use the full amount on offer for their first loan.

Under the terms of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), each business and any wider group of which it is part, defined by having a holding company at the top of their structure, is only eligible to receive one BBLS facility.

Businesses are not currently permitted to go back and ‘top up’ a BBLS facility if they borrowed less than the maximum. However, they are allowed to refinance the loan using the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) facility, allowing them to borrow more money whilst only having one active facility supported by a Government guarantee.