Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Channel 4 Fact Check report entitled Value of UK arms imported by Israel, published on 29 September 2025.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Channel 4 report focuses on imports of ammunition and munitions by Israel. The UK does not licence the export of any bombs or ammunition for use in military operations in Gaza or the West Bank. As Members will be aware, last year we suspended licences for exports of items to the IDF that might be used in military operations in Gaza.
The report is based on Israeli customs data which does not differentiate between live munitions and training equipment or sporting ammunition for civilian use. Furthermore it does not differentiate between items staying in Israel and those scheduled for re-export to other countries.
We take our arms control system very seriously and have taken every possible measure to ensure licences are not approved for exports that could be used by the IDF in Gaza.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) opened for applications in July 2024, replacing the Recovery Loan Scheme, and has recently been extended until 31 March 2029. Evaluations for GGS are currently being procured and will commence in 2026/27.
As of June 2025, GGS had supported a total of 16,082 facilities, driving the sustainability and growth of smaller businesses across the UK. The status of these facilities is summarised in the table below.
Status | Number of facilities | % of facilities |
On Schedule | 13,912 | 86.51% |
Arrears | 368 | 2.29% |
Defaulted | 259 | 1.61% |
Claimed | 151 | 0.94% |
Settled | 481 | 2.99% |
Fully Repaid | 911 | 5.66% |
Total | 16,082 | 100.00% |
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the Growth Guarantee Scheme in providing loans to small and medium-sized enterprises on terms more favourable than those available commercially.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) opened for applications in July 2024, replacing the Recovery Loan Scheme, and has recently been extended until 31 March 2029. Evaluations for GGS are currently being procured and will commence in 2026/27.
As of June 2025, GGS had supported a total of 16,082 facilities, driving the sustainability and growth of smaller businesses across the UK. The status of these facilities is summarised in the table below.
Status | Number of facilities | % of facilities |
On Schedule | 13,912 | 86.51% |
Arrears | 368 | 2.29% |
Defaulted | 259 | 1.61% |
Claimed | 151 | 0.94% |
Settled | 481 | 2.99% |
Fully Repaid | 911 | 5.66% |
Total | 16,082 | 100.00% |