Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve access to bank lending (a) in general and (b) for large-scale new housing developments.

The Government has taken significant action to improve access to bank lending, notably through the Funding for Lending Scheme, as well as supporting non-bank lending channels via the British Business Bank

The Government is also implementing further major reforms to boost competition in the provision of smaller business finance through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill; these include the measures to improve availability of credit information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to match SMEs rejected for finance with challenger banks and alternative finance providers.

The Government has also put in place a series of measures to unlock housing development by providing loans to fund major infrastructure and build costs of housing schemes through its Large Sites Infrastructure Programme, Get Britain Building Programme and Builders Finance Fund.