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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the risk to business owners' personal assets of banks, that supply loans as part of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, requiring the owners of the applicant businesses to provide personal guarantees of the 20 per cent of the value of the loan which is not covered by the Government's guarantee on applicants' personal financial circumstances; and if he will make a statement.

We have made no specific assessment.

We would expect a lender to follow its normal credit policy when assessing additional security generally. Personal guarantees of any form cannot be used in respect of any Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) facilities up to £250,000. For facilities of £250,000 and over, claims on personal guarantees applied to the scheme facility cannot exceed 20% of losses on the scheme facility after all other recoveries have been applied. A Principal Private Residence cannot be taken as security to support a personal guarantee.