The first quarterly figures since the scheme's launch show that, although net lending by all 35 participants increased by £500m in Q3, of the six banks that borrowed money from the BoE under the FLS, only three increased net lending.

On publication of the report, the BoE noted that funding costs had fallen since the launch of the scheme and said it would take time for reduced funding costs to feed through to lending volumes.

It attributed this delay to "typical lags involved in the loan application, approval and drawdown process".

Paul Fisher, executive director for markets at the Bank of England said: "It is too early to use these data as a reliable indication of the impact of the FLS on lending volumes."

Despite borrowing £1bn from the scheme, Lloyds Banking Group reduced its lending by £2.7bn in the quarter. RBS Group borrowed £750m but decreased lending by £642m, while Santander borrowed £1bn but reduced its lending by £3.5bn.

Barclays Bank borrowed £1bn and increased its net lending by £3.8bn. Leeds Building Society borrowed £100m and increased lending by £212m and Nationwide Building Society borrowed £510m and increased lending by £1.8bn.

The combined increase in lending between those banks counted for £5.8bn, whereas the combined decrease in lending among Lloyds, RBS and Santander was £6.9bn.

Nicholas Mockett, patner at Moorgate Capital, said it would be interesting to see a breakdown of lending to households rather than businesses. "I suspect there is a high proportion going to households.

"The consensus has generally been that companies are not borrowing FLS money, which may be because of increased demands for security from the lenders, despite the favourable terms offered by Bank of England.

"Unfortunately, I think the UK economy needs more lending to businesses to stimulate growth rather than simply home owners reducing their housing payments and probably paying down personal debts with the money saved."

He added that while it was probably too early to say whether the likes of Lloyds, Santander and RBS were using the FLS money to boost their balance sheets, if the majority of the lending was to UK households, then this would not help business.

"If the lending is merely replacing one existing residential mortgage with another, now under FLS, then it is supporting the banks by reducing their cost of capital and, if mortgage rates to consumers come down, it is also supporting homeowners and the mooted bubble in UK housing," said Mockett.