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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of converting loans secured via the Coronavirus Bounce Back Loans scheme into grants for small businesses.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) is part of a broad package of support for SMEs, including rates relief, grants and support for wage packages.

Businesses are not permitted to access more than one of either the BBLS, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme or the Covid Corporate Financing Facility Scheme at the same time. The eligibility criteria for BBLS do not require lenders to take into account the other forms of government support that SMEs may be benefitting from, e.g. business rate reliefs or grants unrelated to the CBILS.