Are banks doing enough to help small businesses?

Shamelessly copied from the BBC website is the following extract from the PR on Panorama tonight (BBC 1 at 8.30pm). This has to be essential viewing for anyone managing a small business.  

With more than 4.5 million small businesses in the UK providing 13 million jobs, kick-starting the banks into renewed lending to them is vital to the economy.

More than 100 small businesses are shutting up shop each day, according to the Federation of Small Businesses, which predicts some 30,000 firms will have gone bust by the end of this year.

In an attempt to turn the tide, the government has come up with proposals including the £1.3bn Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme to throw small businesses a lifeline.

However, while welcoming the scheme, organisations representing business - big and small - say positive impact from government initiatives has been slow to materialise, and times are tighter then ever.

In Panorama: Credit Where It's Due, business guru and Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis, who has been running his own businesses for 26 years, examines whether the banks are doing enough to support small businesses.