Luciana Berger
Main Page: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Vince Cable
That complements the earlier question about how we integrate SMEs into the process. The fact is that the green investment bank will predominantly be concerned with very large-scale projects, and that is partly where the market failure lies—in mobilising large amounts of capital. In practice, however, large-scale projects can involve combinations of small-scale enterprises, and of course SMEs will also be an important part of the supply chain—particularly, for example, in offshore wind, which is a crucial dimension.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
The Deputy Prime Minister, in his speech yesterday, said that the green investment bank might be used to deliver the first stages of the green deal. A couple of months ago, however, the Energy Secretary wrote to the WWF stating that he was confident that there was an appetite in the finance community to lend for the green deal, and that he had concerns about using the green investment bank for it. Will the Secretary of State outline why the policy has changed?
Vince Cable
There has been no change to the policy. The green deal has a very sound business model, it will proceed and it will be successful. We do not rule out the possibility of the green investment bank complementing and working with its activities.