Jim Cunningham (Coventry South, Labour)

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many small businesses in Coventry have applied for financial assistance under (a) the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme and (b) the Capital Enterprise scheme; and how many such applications were successful.

Ian Lucas (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Business and Regulatory Reform), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Wrexham, Labour)

Under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, as of 28 October, 19 businesses in Coventry have been offered loans totalling £2.4 million. Businesses may apply for a loan from any one of the participating lenders who will assess which form of lending, including the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, is most appropriate. We do not hold figures for those businesses which are instead offered a normal commercial loan, or are rejected for failing to meet the lender's commercial criteria.

Capital for Enterprise Fund (CfEF) activity data on enquiries and deal flow is collected on a national and regional basis and is not available for reporting at a sub regional basis. As from 28 October CfEF received 78 enquiries from businesses in the West Midlands seeking investment to the value of £76.9 million. While no investments have been made so far in this region, one business has been offered investment totalling £1.5 million and 11 propositions are under active consideration with a value of £13.9 million. The remaining enquiries are either being considered subject to further information to be supplied by the applicant or have been rejected or withdrawn.