Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme.

The Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (SCGS) was officially launched on 26 July 2023, and we are continuing to work closely with the National Shipbuilding Office on all aspects of scheme implementation.

The SCGS is a £500 million scheme to help ship buyers and operators to access finance to purchase UK-built vessels and upgrade existing ones. It guarantees a percentage of the value of loans used to purchase, refit, retrofit or repair vessels, sharing the risk with lenders. The scheme forms part of the Government’s £4 billion plan to revitalise UK shipbuilding and coastal communities through the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, announced in 2022.

There have been 32 expressions of interest in the scheme so far and we are now working at pace to finalise the first transactions supported by the scheme.