Govt’s COVID-19 loans to culture and sports sectors under scrutiny
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) scrutinises the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) management of COVID-19 loans, as well as the National Audit Office (NAO) itself, on Monday 10 February from 3.30pm.
Meeting details
The first session will be a brief hearing with the NAO’s Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Gareth Davies, in which the Committee will ask questions about the NAO’s own budget for 2025-26. The Public Accounts Commission (TPAC), which has a statutory role in considering and approving NAO’s Main Estimate, will then formally decide whether to approve the NAO’s proposals, after its own evidence session in due course.
MPs will then move to examine the management of COVID-19 loans by DCMS, which provided around £2.6bn in support to the culture and sports sectors to help them survive the pandemic. While the vast majority of this support was in the form of grant funding, DCMS issued £474m in loans to 120 borrowers. As at October 2024, just under half of borrowers had started paying back their loans, with DCMS achieving 97% of expected repayments.
The session is likely to see questioning around the value for money of DCMS running its own loan book and future risks to the loan book. Nine borrowers have become insolvent, meaning £46m in loans have now gone bad. The National Audit Office found that a little over a quarter of DCMS’ loan book value (£123.8m) was issued to all 13 clubs in the Premiership Rugby League, the top tier of English rugby. Of the £46m loaned to now-insolvent borrowers, 90% went to three rugby union clubs. The Committee is likely to explore what action is being taken to assess and stabilise the financial future of rugby union, and Government’s plans to respond to any future insolvencies.