Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what initiatives the Office for Investment has introduced to attract investment in small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK.

The service the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) offers is tailored to investors’ needs and the value of their projects. The Office for Investment (OfI) focuses on supporting a select number of the highest value investments. For lower value investments DBT provides support through Expand Your Business, an online portal designed to address the ‘information gap’ for foreign investors. The Government also works through the British Business Bank to improve access to investment for small and mid-sized businesses through targeted interventions. The Bank’s programmes support over £17 billion of finance to small and high-growth businesses, backing almost 64,000 businesses across the UK.