Business: Government Assistance

Mr. Hoban
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2009, Official Report, column 430W, on business: Government assistance, which banks are participating in the Working Capital Scheme; how many businesses had received additional funds from each such bank on the latest date for which figures are available; and what the monetary value was of the additional capital which had been made available under the scheme on that date.

Ms Rosie Winterton
50 per cent. guarantees have been agreed on loan portfolios from Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS), National Westminster Bank plc (NatWest), and Lloyds TSB Bank plc and Lloyds TSB Scotland plc (Lloyds Banking Group) in respect of portfolios of loans that will enable RBS, NatWest and Lloyds Banking Group to make additional lending to UK companies.

Information on the number of businesses receiving new loans is not available. £2 billion of guarantees have been provided to banks under the Working Capital Scheme to free up regulatory capital for new lending to UK companies.

As a result of action by the Government and the regulatory authorities leading to improvements in capital markets since the introduction of the WCS, the Government have been able to allocate resource provision for the WCS to other measures to support businesses.