Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the value is of loans made to businesses in Northern Ireland by the British Business Bank.

The British Business Bank became an operationally independent organisation on 1^st November 2014. It does not make loans directly to businesses. Instead, it works with private sector delivery partners to deliver all of its programmes, allowing it to pull in significant amounts of private sector funding.

The Bank’s programmes are already supporting businesses in Northern Ireland. Through the Start Up Loans programme 205 loans have already been offered to start-up businesses in Northern Ireland with a total value of nearly £1m. The Enterprise Finance Guarantee programme has facilitated lending of £39.3m to 271 businesses.

Additionally, the Bank’s investment programmes, which provide lending through alternative finance providers, have so far facilitated 112 loans to businesses in Northern Ireland with a total value of £5.9m.