The Government has unveiled two sets of measures designed to help small businesses' cash flow and encourage the banks to start lending. A £20 billion package of measures was announced by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson in January. This consists of funding schemes that will guarantee bank loans for small and medium-sized firms. The Government then announced that it is launching an Asset Protection Scheme for UK banks and will offer insurance to banks against losses from bad loans.

For more on this story see:
http://nds.coi.gov.uk

And:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/

For the Treasury's statement on the Asset Protection Scheme go to:
http://nds.coi.gov.uk