Loan Guarantee Scheme (Hansard, 18 January 1994)

§ Mr. Nigel Jones
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to amend the rules applying to the loan guarantee scheme.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
The small firms loan guarantee scheme was improved significantly twice during 1993. There are no current plans further to amend the rules applying to the scheme.

§ Mr. Nigel Jones
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the take-up rate for the loan guarantee scheme.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
The DTI is currently guaranteeing an average of around 240 loans each month. From its inception in June 1981 to 30 September 1993 a total of 34,689 loans have been guaranteed under the scheme.

§ Mr. Nigel Jones
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what adverse representations he has received concerning the attitude of banks involved in the loan guarantee scheme.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
Complaints are received frequently from businesses unable to obtain a loan under the small firms loan guarantee scheme. The vast majority of these are from businesses which either fall outside of the scope of the scheme or whose proposals have been rejected by lenders on commercial grounds. With both public and lender funds at risk, successful applications under the scheme must be assessed carefully as commercially viable and meet fully the other conditions of the scheme.