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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses have had their Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme applications (a) approved and (b) rejected in the (i) Sheffield City Region and (ii) Barnsley Central constituency.

As of 21 April, over £2.8 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme across the UK, to over 16,600 businesses. Lenders have received 36,000 completed applications.

The British Business Bank has streamlined the system by which the biggest accredited CBILS lenders provide information to the Bank, in order to expedite the process. The Bank’s system therefore gathers data from these lenders when loans are offered and drawn. The system does not capture any information on rejected applications.

At this time we cannot provide a breakdown of funding by region, as we have given lenders a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let them focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.