More than one million loans have been approved under the Government's Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

The scheme has provided small companies access to loans of up to £50,000 to help them through the pandemic.

The Treasury says almost £31billion of loans have been approved.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "Our small businesses are the powerhouse of our economy and will help drive our recovery as we bounce back from this global crisis.

"We've worked hard to give small businesses the help they need - from loans and grants to paying the wages of their staff.

"I'm delighted that more than a million loans have been approved - and we will continue to do all we can to support small business as they reopen their doors in the weeks ahead."

The latest Treasury figures also reveal that businesses have benefitted from 53,536 loans worth more than £11.4billion through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme, 394 large businesses have benefitted from £2.58billion via the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and more than £379million has been invested in 376 companies through the Future Fund.

Government subsidies to protect jobs during the coronavirus pandemic will cost taxpayers more than £35billion.

And the latest figures from the Treasury show the value of business loans underwritten by the Government has reached £45billion.

The cost of paying 80 per cent of wages to furloughed workers under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme reached £27.4billion up to July 5 - up £1.9billion on the previous week.

Around 9.4million people, working for 1.1million employers, have been furloughed under the scheme which has been closed to new applicants ahead of being tapered off before it closes at the end of October.

The partner scheme for self-employed workers has supported 2.7million people at a cost of £7.7billion.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: "We promised to stand behind small businesses to get through this crisis - and we've done just that.

"As we get Britain's economic engines firing again, we will not only support businesses to get back on their feet, but also do all we can to level up the economy across every part of our country."