Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme number of guarantees and amounts called on by the banks (FOI)

​​Request

A.

There used to be a scheme run by the States called the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme, under which the States guaranteed bank loans for start up businesses. Please could I have some figures on how many guarantees were given, the total amount in £ that was guaranteed, and how many times, if any, that the guarantee was called on by the bank, and the total amount, if anything, the States paid out to the banks involved.

B.

Please also advise the above information specifically for a company that was known as [name of company redacted] if it was guaranteed by the scheme.

Response

A.

The Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme was run by Jersey Enterprise for a number of years, being phased-out in 2012. During the period of its existence, 7 guarantees were given with the total amount guaranteed totalling £890,000. Guarantees were called on by the bank on two occasions with the States paying out £104,286 in total.

B.

I can confirm that Economic Development holds this information. However, this information is exempt under Article 33 (b) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 and cannot be released.

Justification for the exemption: Guarantees in respect of individual named companies remain “commercially confidential”. Having considered the public interest, the Department’s decision is to withhold the information. 

Exemption

Article 33 Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if:

a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).