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Small Businesses: Loans

Asked by Gareth ThomasLabour (Co-op)Department for Business and TradeTabled Answered 18 November 2025UIN 90109

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has commissioned research from National Institute of Economic and Social Research in the last three years on (a) international lending rates and (b) levels international lending to SMEs.

Answered by Blair McDougall

The Department for Business and Trade has commissioned research on the alternatives to commercial lending in the SME Business Market. The research, undertaken by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, intends to study the characteristics of debt finance and lending markets within and outside the UK to identify market failures in the UK system and potential changes that could support businesses, especially SMEs.

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