Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of SMEs in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes that have secured angel investment in the last 24 months.

Business angels are a significant source of equity investment for start-up and early-stage businesses. Angel investments are typically private arrangements and therefore there is no requirement for them to be publicly reported.

The British Business Bank supports angel investment through its Regional Angels Programme, which helps reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance for smaller businesses across the UK. As at March 2024 the Regional Angels Programme has committed £219m and supported 593 businesses.

In late June the British Business Bank will publish its annual Small Business Equity Tracker 2025. The report will include an analysis of the UK Business Angel Market and will also provide detail on equity deals in the South East region.