Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of amending the guidance on Bounce Back Loans to permit businesses, that have chosen to accept less than the total loan offered to them, to increase the borrowed amount up to the maximum they are eligible for.

As part of the broader package of support measures announced on 2 November, we announced that we will change the Bounce Back Loan Scheme rules to allow those businesses who have borrowed less than their maximum to top-up their existing loan.

If a business has already received a Bounce Back Loan of less than 25% of the turnover they stated on their last application form, they will be able to apply to their existing lender to top up their existing loan to 25% of turnover or £50,000, whichever is lower.

The top-up will be on the terms of the original loan, that is, the term for the top-up will finish on the same date as for the original, as will the repayment holiday.