Loan Guarantee Scheme

HC Deb 24 June 1988 vol 135 cc763-4W

Mr. Michael Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement about recent changes in the loan guarantee scheme.

Mr. Cope

As one of the initiatives in the action for cities launch on 7 March the Government announced their intention to raise the guarantee level on the loan guarantee scheme loans from 70 to 85 per cent. for eligible borrowers in inner city task force areas. That initiative has now been brought into effect. Since the introduction this January of simplified arrangements for loans of up to £15,000, take up under the scheme has doubled to over 200 per month. Both those changes should assist small businesses to start up and grow.