It says something about the current world that a new economic indicator is about to be unleashed by the Bank of England and it basically tells you whether banks have been doing what they are supposed to do -- lend.

The first Trends in Lending report is due out on April 21 at 0830 GMT. Always nice to have a new indicator, but this one may get a bit more attention than would have been the case a few years ago. It is designed to provide up-to-date information about bank lending to households and businesses.

Consumer groups, regulators trade bodies, the BoE, the UK government and lenders themselves will draw up the report under the rubric of something called The Lending Panel -- which a cruel cycnic might say sounds a bit like a high-interest loan shop.

Clearly, the purpose of the report is to show whether banks have been passing on the ultra-low interest rates that the BoE has been handing out.  What do you think it will show?

Getting into university is quite often the easy part, while figuring out how to pay for it is the real challenge. And higher education could get even more expensive if university chiefs get their way.

Vice-chancellors from 12 universities said in a report commissioned by Universities UK that an average fee of up to 7,000 pounds a year is necessary to secure long-term funding for teaching. The National Union of Students condemned the proposal, saying that it would deter poorer students from applying and leave graduates with massive debts.

If you are going to start university soon or are already enrolled, or if you are a parent about to send your child to university, there are a number of online tools and resources that will help you to better understand tuition fees and find financial support if you need it.

Moneysavingexpert.com has teamed up with the Department of Education to produce a free parents guide to student finance which shows how student finance works and how you can get your kids into higher education without taking on too much financial strain. The guide has everything you need to know about funding university, from financial support to student bank accounts and tips on getting a part-time job.

You should also have a good look at the site’s Student MoneySaving section which will help you to understand the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ student debt (student loans compared to, say, credit cards) and where to find hidden scholarships and grants. Moneysavingexpert.com also has a comprehensive guide to student loans and grants.

Directgov has up-to-the minute information for all types of student. Their student finance section is an invaluable resource for full-time, part-time, disabled and overseas students looking to find out more about the best way to fund their higher education journey. There is also information for parents and you can even apply for finance online. Directgov’s interactive bursary map , which will take you to any university bursary page in England, is also very useful.

Elsewhere, Studentcashpoint.com is a comprehensive source of information on grants, loans, burseries, scholarships and awards. The site also has useful tips on surviving on a student budget and you can sign up for free automatic funding alerts.

UCAS, the organisation which processes applications to higher education, has an extensive budget calculator which will help students total up their monthly income and outgoings to reveal what they will be left to live on.

If you just want to know more about tuition fees, how they work and where they apply, look at this Q&A by the BBC. Finally, theindependent.co.uk has a student section full of guides to organising your spending and how to find discounts on essential items like laptops.

The government has unveiled a plan to guarantee up to 20 billion pounds of loans to help small businesses survive the credit crunch.

But there are concerns that will not be enough to get the banks lending sufficient funds to help businesses get access to cash.

The Conservatives want ministers to go further and underwrite 50 billion pounds of loans.

Some businesses are sceptical about the government’s plan. They say they have applied for these loans in the past and have found the caveats to be a deterrent.

What do you think of the plan? Are you the owner of a small business that has found the banks less than helpful? Tell us of your experiences.

Duncan Bannatyne, the straight-talking Scottish entrepreneur and star of TV’s “Dragons’ Den” has been talking about how his business has been affected by the credit crunch.

“My businesses are up from last year, so we’re doing well and most small businesses I speak to are still actually doing quite well,” he told Digital Spy in an interview ahead of the launch of his new BBC2 show “Beat the Bank” on Thursday.

“But I have wanted to borrow more money to invest in more health clubs and it’s proving very difficult. Banks want huge amounts of interest, personal commitments and guarantees. I’m in the middle of a deal at the moment, which I’m just weighing up whether to go in or pull out.”

His advice for people struggling in the current economic climate: “I think there’s two options. All those people who can pay their bills should make sure they’re up to date, get rid of as much debt as they can and reduce their spending where they can. However, anyone with a bit of spare cash who’s willing to invest, it’s bargain basement time. You should get out there now and make some investments.”

At the root of the credit crisis was the large number of banks,  the Dragons’ Den star says.

“There were just too many banks. Banks were passing money around each other and one day it was always going to run out. If there were as many supermarkets on the high street as there are banks, then we’d run out of fresh vegetables. It was as simple as that. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen it, but I did comment three years ago that there were an awful lot of people about making huge amounts of money from transferring other people’s cash around on commission. It just never seemed right to me.”

In “Beat the Bank”, Bannatyne takes a young couple from the general public and asks them if they want to leave their money in the bank or take a risk with it.  He introduces them to experts: one in antiques, one in art, one in wine. These experts claim that if you give them £10,000, you can get a much better rate than from a bank. ” I remind the couple that there are risks involved and it’s left for them to decide what to do,” said Bannatyne.

The Bank of England’s 50 billion pound credit swap for banks hit by the global credit crunch leaves a “sour taste ” for the Daily Mail, which accepts it is a necessary evil.

“How could allowing banks to swap their risky mortgage and credit card debts (amassed during years of lunatically-excessive lending) for cast-iron Government bonds be anything else?,” it asks. “So much for moral hazard.”

But for the Financial Times the Special Liquidity Scheme, which will swap banks’ risky mortgage assets for easily tradeable government debt, is “cleverly designed and welcome move to ease liquidity troubles.”

It says the scheme will protect the tax payer and does not absolve the banks of the consequences of their past lending mistakes.

The Times is also impressed by the “sensible and imaginative response” to the credit crunch but said Britain’s financial authorities took too long to accept the financial markets crisis was hitting the wider economy.

The deal is the “least-bad option available to economic policymakers“, in the view of the Independent, which calls for an inquiry to determine how the regulatory system broke down.

The Daily Telegraph says the scale of the operation is “startling” and says it is now up to the banks to make sure it works.

Both the government and the Bank of England are to blame for leaving taxpayers and borrowers more vulnerable to the global financial crisis.

“Monetary policy has been too lax, borrowing was allowed to spiral, despite a long period of economic growth, and the banks used the era of cheap credit to pursue reckless lending strategies,” the Telegraph said.