Covid-19: Economy
Debate between Baroness Drake and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn
I assure the noble Baroness that we will reflect on all lessons from the past in dealing with the current crisis, although we have never seen anything quite of its nature before. One of our focuses, through the job retention scheme and the loans available to businesses, is to protect and maintain our productive capacity so that we can bridge this crisis, come out the other end, and protect our nation’s productivity and growth.
Baroness Drake (Lab)
My Lords, 60% of private sector workers in the UK were employed by SMEs, with more than half—some 9 million—in microbusinesses. Many SMEs are struggling to keep their businesses alive and workers on their books. We know that, if too many fall, this will scar the economy and slow recovery. The Chancellor’s announcement of the bounce-back loan scheme is welcome, but at what rate do the Government now expect loan finance to flow to SMEs, what is the expected impact on the number of businesses that will stop trading, and what further refinements to the current schemes targeted on SMEs are the Government reviewing?
Baroness Penn
As the noble Baroness said, we introduced bounce-back loans just this week. We are moving at pace to make sure that all the measures that we have announced are implemented. Because of that pace, we will of course always keep those measures under review to see how well they are working and that the support is getting where we want it to be. If further measures are needed, we will keep that under review as well.