Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Local authority administered COVID grant schemes

Status: Closed Opened: 29 Mar 2023 Closed: 18 Nov 2023 2 recommendations 25 conclusions 1 report

COVID-19 pandemic restrictions varied over time and between different parts of the country, but all had an impact on businesses, many of which were forced to temporarily close or curtail their operations. The government announced in early March 2020 that it would provide grants, administered by local authorities, to support smaller businesses in England. The …

Reports

1 report

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority administered COVID su…	HC 1234	6 Sep 2023	27	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items

1 Conclusion Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority a… Rejected

Committee takes evidence on local authority-administered COVID-19 business grants.

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Business and Trade (the Department) and HM Treasury about local authority-administered COVID-19 grants for businesses in England.2

Government response. The government explicitly disagrees with the committee's recommendation, stating that a single precise definition for basic control in national emergencies is not appropriate given the varied nature of such events.

HM Treasury

7 Conclusion Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority a… Rejected

Absence of basic controls and awareness of pre-payment checks in early grant schemes.

We pressed witnesses about the absence of basic controls in the early schemes, and the level of consideration that had been given to how quickly these controls could have been put in place.9 DBT told us that the level of speed involved was “almost inconceivable”, but accepted that early in …

Government response. The government rejects the committee's implied recommendation for a single definition of basic controls in emergencies, arguing that HMT adapts controls proportionately and that existing spending frameworks provide sufficient flexibility while retaining accounting officers' responsibilities.

HM Treasury

19 Conclusion Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority a… Rejected

Untargeted early grant schemes overwhelmed departmental capacity and posed fiscal challenges.

The first wave of grant schemes in spring 2020 were largely untargeted. They account for around half of the £22.6 billion eventually provided to businesses under these schemes over the pandemic.38 HM Treasury told us the amount paid out in the first wave was very large; it was fiscally very …

Government response. The government rejects the committee's implied recommendation, stating that a single precise definition for the basic level of control in national emergencies is inappropriate due to varying circumstances. It affirms that established spending frameworks apply, with Accounting Officers responsible for …

HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session

Date	Witnesses
11 May 2023	Anastasia Osbourne · Department for Business and Trade, David Bickerton · Department for Business and Trade, Gareth Davies CB · Department for Business and Trade, Phil Duffy · HM Treasury	View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters

Date	Direction	Title
12 Jun 2023	—	Correspondence from Gareth Davies, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business…
24 May 2023	—	Correspondence from Philip Duffy, Director General, Growth and Productivity, HM…

Accepted	18
Accepted in Part	1
Acknowledged	3
Deferred	1
Not Addressed	1
Rejected	3