A Committee has been established!

The cross-party Treasury Committee has launched an inquiry into the challenges faced by small businesses when seeking finance. The committee will look at a number of issues. These will include how easy it is for small firms to access finance and the regulation of small business lending. They will also look at the effectiveness of the Bank of England’s term funding scheme. This was designed to incentivise high street banks to lend to small businesses. It will also assess how useful the British Business Bank is in this regard.

Committee chair Harriett Baldwin said: “Small businesses are the lifeblood of local communities. They are key in powering economic growth and fostering innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit”. She added that the committee will “examine whether small businesses can access the finance they need to grow and develop”. They will look at whether there is adequate regulation of the sector. Can government can take a more active role to support business growth.”

BFS Comment: 

Ms Baldwin is, of course, quite right in emphasising the importance of SMEs to our economy. Hopefully the message is getting through to many more MPs. Interesting also that they plan to take a closer look at the effectiveness of the BBB. Will be interesting to see their conclusions! Is your business one of the many that are currently suffering problems in raising finance? If it is, then do not wait for the report to come out! Call us now on 0800 093 5240 for a free ‘no-strings’ consultation on possible solutions to your problem.