Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Lord Haskel
Main Page: Lord Haskel (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Haskel's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
Lord Haskel Excerpts(4 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Callanan
As I said in an earlier answer, a huge number of loans have been approved—160,000 in the first three days of the scheme—so I am afraid that many small businesses do not agree with the noble Baroness.
Lord Haskel (Lab)
CBILS is much criticised for being slow due to the many checks. This approach is much more suitable for equity investment. Will the Government create such a vehicle instead, to help create new ways of working and particularly to help those firms already overloaded with debt?
Lord Callanan
As I said in earlier answers, there are a number of different support packages besides CBILS, including the furlough and direct grant schemes. A number of supports are in place for all businesses. I do not accept that the systems have been slow to operate. As I said, 160,000 loans were approved under the bounce-back scheme in the first few days of operation.