UK: International Competitiveness Debate
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Lord Cotter
Main Page: Lord Cotter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Cotter's debates with the Leader of the House
UK: International Competitiveness
Lord Cotter Excerpts(14 years, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Wilcox
What we as a Government want to do is make the conditions right whereby all parts of industry can grow.
Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, there is time for both noble Lords. Perhaps we should have the noble Lord, Lord Cotter, first, and then the noble Lord, Lord Jones.
Lord Cotter
My Lords, the Government are rightly committed to reducing bureaucracy to help competitiveness. Will the Minister look at the hurdles faced by small businesses when they try to borrow? They include new charges and fees along the line, audits, facility fees, reviews, management fees and so it goes on. These are clearly blocks in the way of the ability to borrow. Will the Minister also consider the high rate at which businesses frequently have to borrow through the banks?
Baroness Wilcox
The enterprise finance guarantee scheme has been extended and there will be a Green Paper soon in which we will be looking at all these issues.