Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help unlock capital for SMEs in Britain.
The Government has a wide range of levers to help SMEs across the country access the capital they need to thrive and grow.
The British Business Bank brings together a range of programmes, spanning debt and equity finance as well as regional funds, which help ensure that financial markets are working for SMEs. These programmes are supporting over £10.8 billion of finance to over 93,000 SMEs across the UK.
The Government provides three tax-advantaged venture capital schemes: the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs). These schemes are designed to encourage investment in higher-risk, early-stage companies which face some of the biggest challenges in accessing growth capital.
The Government is also working with industry to identify and address barriers to institutional investment into a broader range of assets, which could help unlock more capital for UK SMEs and improve returns for pension savers.