Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with the British Business Bank on supporting access to capital for women‑led and ethnic minority‑led businesses.

The British Business Bank has numerous new and successful programmes to support access to capital for underrepresented groups, including:

• new £400 million Investor Pathways Capital initiative to reduce barriers to entry for new fund managers, with 50% of this ringfenced for women,
• new Diverse Angel Syndicate initiative to catalyse the growth of diverse angel groups,
• Start Up Loans programme which has delivered more than £1.2 billion in loans, with around 40% of its loans to female founders and 20% to ethnic minority-led businesses,
• £130 million invested into the Invest in Women Taskforce’s funding pool.

The Bank is also a founding signatory to the Investing in Women Code.