Written question asked by Gordon McKee (Labour) on Monday, 13 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 15 July 2026. It was answered by Blair McDougall (Labour) on Friday, 17 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade.

New Businesses: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of large scale capital in the UK for late stage start up businesses.

Answer: The government is taking action to improve the availability of large-scale growth capital available to UK scale-ups. Through a new strategic mandate and reforms to the British Business Bank (BBB), the BBB is increasing support for late-stage businesses, including through larger and faster investments. The government has increased BBB’s financial capacity to £25.6 billion, enabling it to invest both directly and through funds at scale, helping to mobilise private capital and ensuring late stage UK companies can access the finance they need to scale and remain in the UK.

Secondary information