The scheme, which began in August last year, was designed to encourage banks to lend more money, both to individuals and businesses.

The latest figures bring the total amount drawn under the cheap funding scheme to £13.8bn.

There are now 39 groups participating in the Scheme, which cover over 80% of the stock of lending to the real economy, the Bank said,

Bank of England executive director for markets Paul Fisher said in a recent speech that though lending rates had fallen, it was still early for much extra money to have flowed from the application stage into actual loans: “I would not expect to see a return to rising aggregate quantities until we start getting data for 2013 at the earliest.

“Nevertheless, it does seem that we have the beginnings of a revival in mortgage activity which is visible in the approvals data and that trend is widely supported by business contacts throughout the country.”