Brian H. Donohoe
Main Page: Brian H. Donohoe (Labour - Central Ayrshire)Department Debates - View all Brian H. Donohoe's debates with the HM Treasury
(10 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Osborne
Credit conditions for small businesses have been one of the huge challenges since the banking crash. The better news is that conditions are starting to ease, as the most recent surveys show, but I am the first to say that the job is not done. That is why we are shifting the focus of the funding for lending scheme with the Bank of England onto small business lending and why we have introduced the British business bank, which did not exist before. We are doing all those things to support credit, including for small businesses.
Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
Following that answer, will the Chancellor tell us how many firms have actually been helped by the business investment bank?
Mr Osborne
The British business bank is lending to intermediaries that support non-bank lending to small firms. [Hon. Members: “How many?”] There was no British business bank before. The only bank that the Opposition helped to take into public ownership was the Royal Bank of Scotland, because they completely failed to regulate it.