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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how his Department plans to support new businesses to ensure that they can access a Bounce Back Loan during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown period.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme, launched in May 2020, has been introduced to help smaller businesses impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19). It is designed to help businesses who were trading prior to 1 March 2020 and have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.

Other Government support is available for newer businesses during the pandemic, including the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans Scheme, which is available to individual who have founded businesses trading for less than two years. The Scheme offers access to affordable government-backed finance of between £500 and £25,000 per owner (limited to £100,000 per business) at a fixed 6% interest per annum.