Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the British Business Bank’s Cluster Champions programme to help support high-growth SMEs in South Northamptonshire.

The Cluster Champions programme is designed to provide up to £100 million of additional targeted investment to businesses in the eight Industrial Strategy sectors in ten clusters located in city regions across the whole of the UK. While not part of the clusters, high-growth SMEs in South Northamptonshire benefit from access to the £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, which provides debt and equity finance to businesses across the Midlands.