§ Mr. Horamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of raising the upper limit of investment under the business start-up scheme to £75,000; and if he will similarly estimate the cost of raising the maximum figure for loans under the loan guarantee scheme to £150,000.
§ Mr. Wakeham[pursuant to his reply, 25 January, c. 394]: As regards the business start-up scheme, it is too soon yet to make a firm estimate of the effect of raising the limit to £20,000 in the 1982 Finance Act and, therefore, of the further cost that would be involved in going beyond this.
If the ceiling for loans under the loan guarantee scheme were raised, the effect on take-up would be difficult to predict. The proportion of failures within that additional take-up, which is where any main additional cost would lie, is again not something which can be estimated with any confidence.