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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions his Department has had with the banking sector to ensure applications for the Business Interruption Loan Scheme are dealt with in a timely manner.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is part of a comprehensive package of support for SMEs. The Government held discussions with the banking industry prior to the launch of CBILS. The Business Secretary continues to hold a regular dialogue with the largest CBILS lenders to monitor its implementation.

The Government has responded to feedback from stakeholders on CBILS, which includes the time taken by lenders to process applications, by:

• Removing the ability for lenders to ask for personal guarantees for loans under £250,000, and reducing the personal guarantee for loans over £250,000 to 20% of the outstanding balance after recoveries;
• Introducing technical changes to ensure that applications will be processed faster;
• Removing the forward-looking viability test; and
• Removing the per lender portfolio cap.

The Government will continue to monitor the scheme and introduce amendments as appropriate.