Oral Answers to Questions

Bill Esterson Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Nicky Morgan)]

I know that my hon. Friend has worked extremely hard on this. I congratulate her and Admiral Stephens on the excellent work that the taskforce has been doing. It is producing more than a vision for Portsmouth; it is producing a set of clear actions that will enable the Solent area to achieve its ambitions in maritime, marine and manufacturing. Considerable sums will be invested in those sectors. Portsmouth has a Minister and a cross-Government team to help it to secure what it needs, and the Treasury will do all it can to enable the taskforce’s remit to be realised.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

The Government’s own figures show that net lending to small and medium-sized enterprises has fallen since the funding for lending scheme was introduced, as confirmed by businesses in my constituency. Does the Minister accept that the scheme has totally failed Britain’s small businesses?

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise this issue. Lending to small businesses has been a matter of concern to this Government. There are potentially some issues of competition in the market, and that is why we welcome today’s update by the Office of Fair Trading on its SME market study. The funding for lending scheme has helped. It has increased net lending by the participating banks by more than £10 billion during its first phase, and I think we are right, in its second phase, to focus it on SMEs only.