Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Quarterly Economic Survey by the British Chambers of Commerce, published on 11 April; and what steps they are taking to address and mitigate the challenges in relation to wages, bills and other expenses faced by businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Department continuously monitors and works to improve our offer to help businesses access the finance and support they need.

Government works with the British Business Bank to help SMEs access finance. The Recovery Loan scheme, renamed the ‘Growth Guarantee Scheme’, was extended, which offers a 70% government guarantee on loans to SMEs. The VAT registration threshold was also raised, keeping more SMEs out of VAT.

Additional support also includes raising the Employment Allowance to £5,000, and a business rates package to support small businesses, worth £4.3 billion.