{"value":{"id":1702358,"askingMemberId":1796,"askingMember":null,"house":"Lords","memberHasInterest":false,"dateTabled":"2024-04-18T00:00:00","dateForAnswer":"2024-05-02T00:00:00","uin":"HL3969","questionText":"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.","answeringBodyId":214,"answeringBodyName":"Department for Business and Trade","isWithdrawn":false,"isNamedDay":false,"groupedQuestions":[],"answerIsHolding":false,"answerIsCorrection":false,"answeringMemberId":4931,"answeringMember":null,"correctingMemberId":null,"correctingMember":null,"dateAnswered":"2024-05-02T00:00:00","answerText":"<p>The Department continuously monitors and works to improve our offer to help businesses access the finance and support they need.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p>Additional support also includes raising the Employment Allowance to £5,000, and a business rates package to support small businesses, worth £4.3 billion.</p>","originalAnswerText":"","comparableAnswerText":"","dateAnswerCorrected":null,"dateHoldingAnswer":null,"attachmentCount":0,"heading":"Business: Economic Situation","attachments":[],"groupedQuestionsDates":[]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Questions/1702358","method":"GET"}]}