§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the average length of time taken by his Department to process applications under the loan guarantee scheme (a) in the year ended 31 March 1982 and (b) in the financial year 1982–83 so far.
§ Mr. MacGregorIt is not possible to be precise, but the average time taken from the date an application reached the loan guarantee unit to the date it was sent back630W to the bank was approximately eight to 10 working days up to March 1982 and 10 to 12 working days since April 1982. The time taken increased to about three weeks at the beginning of 1982 when demand was at its highest level, but most applications are now being processed in about one week.