Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings contained in the Bank of England's Money and Credit June 2017 Statistical Release that there was (1) a £0.2 billion fall in loans to non-financial small and medium enterprises, and (2) an £8.2 billion rise in loans to large business, in the year to June.

The Treasury monitors the Bank of England’s Money and Credit statistical releases and other statistical publications.

The Government is supporting lending to SMEs in a variety of ways, such as through the establishment of the British Business Bank to make finance markets work better for small businesses. The Government is also helping alternative lenders which lend to small businesses, for example through support for challenger banks; introducing a bespoke regime for peer-to-peer lending; and structural interventions such as the bank referral scheme and the SME credit data sharing scheme.