Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will ask the British Business Bank to support credit unions to offer loans to small businesses.

The British Business Bank is backing Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) with £150 million of capital through the Community ENABLE Funding programme, to support small businesses that are under-served by commercial lenders.

Credit unions play a valuable role in providing both loans and savings, with 2.2 million members across the UK. Unlike CDFIs, which are not authorised to offer bank accounts, credit unions are able to attract customer deposits and are not reliant on wholesale finance. For this reason, the British Business Bank has no current plans to support credit unions to offer loans to small businesses.