To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what review of the availability of the small firms loans guarantee scheme she has carried out; and what the outcome was. [104723]

Following a review of this scheme, its scope is being widened to include:

expanding the sector coverage to include retail, catering, coal, hairdressing and beauty parlours, house and estate agents, libraries, museums and cultural activities, motor vehicle repair and servicing, steel and travel agents;

increasing the maximum turnover limit for the service sector to £3 million;

allow early borrowers to re-qualify for SFLGS support by excluding loans up to March 1993 from counting towards maximum loan amounts;

currently we expect to guarantee 4,000 applications by the end of the financial year. In view of the chargea we expect a 26 per cent, increase in applications from 1 April 2003.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many loans were made under the small firms loans guarantee scheme in each region and nation of the UK in the last three financial years; and what the average size of loan was. [104724]

The following table shows the average loan size and the number of loans guaranteed under the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme in each region and nation of the UK in the last three financial years: