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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are planning to take to ensure that the British Business Bank lends to all parts of the UK.

The role of the British Business Bank is to increase the supply of finance available to smaller businesses where markets are not working well, wherever in the UK that might be. The Bank’s programmes are supporting almost £3.2 billion of finance to more than 51,000 smaller businesses and are participating in a further £4.6 billion of finance to small mid-cap businesses across the UK. The British Business Bank is further supporting the availability of finance by creating the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine investment funds to provide debt and equity to small growing companies. These investment funds have been designed in close partnership with Local Enterprise Partnerships to ensure they respond to regional demand where market failures exist, to promote local growth and help create an economy that works for everyone.