A total of 803 companies drew just £75.5m in EFG-backed loans during the quarter, down from £203m across 1,921 in the same period in 2009 and £134.5m in Q3 2010.

The scheme, which is aimed at companies that have insufficient security to gain a loan, sees the government act as guarantor on 75% of bank loans between £1,000 and £25m.

In his Autumn Statement, the chancellor George Osborne announced that the scheme would be extended to companies with a turnover of up to £44m, up from the current £25m cut-off.

Additional lenders, including Metro Bank, will also be accredited to the scheme, which has drawn criticism for having fewer lenders than the Small Firms Loan Guarantee (SFLG) scheme that it replaced.

Mark Nelson, of Compass Business Finance, told PrintWeek that lenders found it too difficult to get applicants approved through the EFG and that he had heard of only one successful print application in the three years since it replaced the SFLG scheme.

"It was brought in to replace the SFLG as a means to be able to lend more money into the parts of the economy where it was required, but what's happened has been nothing of the type," he said.

"State Securities used to be very active under the old SFLG scheme and were part of the approved panel of lenders for the EFG, but have since withdrawn because they could never get the criteria to be met."

According to the Federation of Small Business (FSB), banks are giving mixed messages about the availability of the EFG scheme to prospective borrowers.

FSB chief spokesman Andrew Cave told The Telegraph: "Our members are going into banks and not getting a conclusive response to questions about the EFG. There seems to be some confusion about the criteria and which businesses can access it.

Meanwhile, Santander has launched a £200m mezzanine debt fund to provide finance to fast-growing businesses with sales of up to £10m-a-year.

Mezzanine debt is an alternative to equity investment from VCs and private equity firms. It typically charges a high rate of interest (up to 20%) but can work out cheaper in the long-term than surrendering shares that will grow in value with the business.

The Santander fund is backed by £50m of public money from the Regional Growth Fund, which the government has stipulated cannot be invested in companies based in London and the South East.