UK furlough scheme spending passes 25 billion pounds

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance ministry said on Tuesday it had spent more than 25 billion pounds ($30.72 billion) on a furlough programme that is supporting 9.3 million jobs.In a weekly update, the Treasury said claims under its Job Retention Scheme - which pays 80% of salary costs for furloughed staff - had risen to 25.5 billion pounds as of June 28 from 22.9 billion pounds the week before.Banks had lent small businesses 29.5 billion pounds of 100% state-backed loans, up about 1.5 billion..