Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Caine of Kentish Town (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 9 March 2026.

British Business Bank

Question: My Lords, the creative industries is a priority sector for the modern industrial strategy but not for the National Wealth Fund, as business structures seem to be better fitted to investment from the British Business Bank. Can my noble friend provide reassurance that the bank has the expertise and criteria that fit businesses such as those in the creative industries whose value lies in intellectual property, particularly while its protection is currently uncertain? In due course, can she share the comparative levels of investment made in the last two years in the key growth sectors?

Answer: My noble friend is right to mention consistency with the industrial strategy. It was only in October last year that the Government gave the British Business Bank a new mandate, including to align with the industrial strategy’s priority sectors and making available £4 billion to support those areas. In setting out the priority sectors, the Government have outlined ways in which they expect the British Business Bank to meet that—for example, using specialist fund managers or tailored approaches for the specific financing and other requirements of those subsectors. Creative UK has committed to providing a single gateway to help those creative industries that need access to finance to navigate between the various sources of finance available from the Government.

Secondary information