Have your say on access to finance for businesses in the UK

UKParliament

The House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee are holding an inquiry on access to finance, looking at how the landscape for access to finance has developed since the end of the financial crisis and the improvements on finance which Government could make to boost the number of successful and high-growth businesses.

Iain Wright MP, Chair of the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Committee said:

"After real difficulties during the credit crunch, business access to finance appears, superficially at least, to be back to normal. But small businesses, in particular, still say that access to finance is one of their biggest obstacles to future growth. As a Committee, we want to look at how access to finance has changed since the end of the financial crisis. Among other issues, we will want to examine some of the alternative ways of raising finance, such as crowd-funding and peer-to-peer, and whether they are sufficiently well-regulated and monitored for companies to be confident in utilising them."

The Committee is seeking evidence on the following points:

• How has the landscape for access to finance evolved since the end of the financial crisis?
• What have been the most successful Government policies to assist growing companies access private finance and where is there room for improvement?
• Does the UK have globally competitive markets/suppliers for financing (and debt financing) at 1) seed 2) venture and 3) growth stages? What steps could Government take to strengthen these systems?
• Are alternative methods of raising finance (such as crowd-funding and peer-to-peer) sufficiently well-regulated and monitored for companies to be confident in utilising them?
• What are the main improvements or interventions, in terms of finance, that the Government should make to achieve the objective of increasing the number of successful and high-growth businesses in the private sector?

Submit your evidence to the inquiry before 10 February 2016.

UKParliament

From 9.30am on Wednesday 4 May, the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee will hear evidence from key business trade bodies and business advisers on access to finance for businesses.

Purpose of session

The session covers concerns around the effectiveness of Government action to improve access to finance including bank lending, continuing barriers in access to finance for small businesses, the growth of alternative finance, and awareness among business of the options available when seeking finance.

The Committee will hear from

Business bodies from 9.30am

• Suren Thiru, Head of Economics and Business Finance, British Chambers of Commerce
• Jimmy McLoughlin, Head of Entrepreneurship Policy, Institute of Directors
• Tom McMurtrie, the Managing Director of Hymid Two-Shot Ltd, and EEF member

Business advisers from 10.30am

• Andrew Sandiford, Partner, Bishop Fleming
• Simon Littlewood, Partner, Grant Thornton

Watch the session on Parliament TV.