PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (1 May 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the proportion of businesses that have applied for loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme that have had their application declined.

Asked by:
Nadia Whittome (Labour)

As of 6 May, in total over £5.5 billion worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to 33,812 businesses. Lenders have received 62,674 completed applications.

In order to minimise administrative burden and therefore facilitate the issuing of as many loans as possible, the British Business Bank’s system only gathers data from lenders when loans are offered and drawn. Decisions on whether to capture information relating to rejected loans are at the discretion of the lender.

We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on the publication of regular and transparent data going forward.

Answered by:
Paul Scully (Conservative)
12 May 2020