British Patient Capital

(asked on 16th March 2023) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.114 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC 1183, published on 15 March 2023, what estimate he has made of the regional breakdown of the £3 billion investment in British Patient Capital.


Answered by
Andrew Griffith Portrait
Andrew Griffith
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 23rd March 2023

The extension of the British Patient Capital (BPC) programme until 2033-34 will be delivered in line with the British Business Bank’s (BBB’s) and BPC’s existing mandate.

The British Business Bank has an objective to identify and help to reduce imbalances in access to finance for smaller businesses across the UK.

To do this, it is important that the BBB deploys the right mix of programmes and interventions to meet the needs of businesses across the UK with different financing needs. Key programmes to tackle the structural barriers in regional access to finance include the Regional Angels Programme to reduce imbalances for early stage equity finance for smaller businesses. Spending Review 2021 also announced £1.6bn for the next generation of regional funds across the UK.

In 2021/22, the Bank exceeded its regional deployment target, deploying more than £900 million of finance outside London and supporting almost 83,000 businesses outside London at the end of March 2022.

British Patient Capital invests in venture and growth capital, supporting the growth of the UK’s innovative companies wherever they are in the UK. As of June 2022, British Patient Capital commitments (including by third parties) totalled over £10.7bn.

BPC invests on a fully commercial basis to maximise returns and manage risk. It will continue to do so through its extension to 2033-34, while increasing its focus on the most R&D intensive companies across the UK.

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