Committees

Bounce Back Loans Scheme: Follow-up

Inquiry

In December 2020 the Committee published its first report on the “Bounce Back Loan” Scheme offered to registered - and unregistered - small businesses to help them get through and recover from Government-mandated closures and loss of business revenues during lockdown.

At that time the PAC concluded that billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was at risk due to fraud in the 100% guaranteed loans, where even the most basic checks and assurances had been dropped in the name of getting the loans out quickly.

The Committee has since reported several times on failures in the Government’s balancing of risk and expedience across many of its Covid support schemes, but the National Audit Office has described the BBLS as “government’s largest and most risky business loan support scheme”. Official calculations and estimates of how much will be lost to fraud and default in the BBLS are ongoing.

In this follow up inquiry, the Committee will question senior officials at BEIS and the Treasury on what government is doing to protect public money in relation to the Scheme; how many loans were made by the time the Scheme closed; how many businesses have begun repaying loans; the counter-fraud activity taking place, and the levels of identified fraud; and the latest Scheme estimates of potential fraud and credit losses.

If you have evidence on any of these issues, please submit it here by Monday 3rd January 2022

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was 6:00pm on 3 January 2022.

Upcoming events

View all events

No upcoming events scheduled

Past events

Monday 5 December 2022
2:15pm Private
3:00pm Public
Oral evidence session 5 December 2022
Bounce Back Loans Scheme: Follow-up - Oral evidence
3:00pm
  • Anne Boden (Founder and Chief Executive at Starling Bank)
  • Andrew Harrison (Managing Director of Business Banking at NatWest)
  • Karl Reid (Head of Lending UK Commercial Banking at HSBC)
  • Dave Newcombe (Managing Director at Paragon Banking Group)
BEIS Annual Report & Accounts 2021-22 - Oral evidence
4:00pm
  • Sarah Munby (Permanent Secretary at Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy)
  • Tom Taylor (Strategic Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer at Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy)
  • Gemma Peck (Director Business Growth at Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Monday 10 January 2022
3:30pm Private
4:00pm Public
Bounce Back Loans Scheme: Follow-up - Oral evidence 10 January 2022
4:00pm
  • Sarah Munby (Permanent Secretary at Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy)
  • Charles Roxburgh (Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury)
  • Catherine Lewis La Torre (Chief Executive at British Business Bank)
  • Sheldon Mills (Executive Director Consumers and Competition at Financial Conduct Authority)
  • Patrick Magee (Chief Commercial Officer at British Business Bank)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Contact us

We receive a significant number of emails each day. All requests and invitations are considered but we do not respond directly to everyone. Please be aware, the committee does not look at individual cases or specific complaints.