New Businesses: Women
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what proportion of British Business Bank funding is dedicated to supporting female entrepreneurs by sector.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The British Business Bank delivers most programmes via third parties, limiting data on gender and sectoral breakdowns, however it aims to increase gender data in 2025.
The Start Up Loans programme is an example of where gender data is held, and since 2012, it has delivered over 118,000 loans totalling more than £1.1 billion, with 40% going to female founders.
As a founding signatory of the Investing in Women Code, the Bank supports women entrepreneurs by improving access to the tools, resources and finance they need. The Bank also collects data on equity finance for female entrepreneurs and is committed to enhancing data collection of its own equity finance activities.
The Bank has also invested £50 million through existing programmes, supporting the Invest in Women Taskforce.
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