Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Accepted
Effectiveness of pandemic business grants and their impact remains unknown.
Conclusion
HM Treasury acknowledged that it still does not know how well the government’s goals were met and what was achieved for the money spent. It told us it wanted to answer the question of “whether this was the right thing to do”: whether the schemes met their objectives and the total cost was worth it.52 BEIS commissioned an evaluation to examine both the processes by which the grant schemes were created and operated, and to quantify their impact.53 DBT reflected on the importance of ensuring lessons inform the Department’s understanding of, and so future advice to Ministers about, the choices and trade-offs in emergencies. DBT is still awaiting the results but told us it expects to publish “before summer”.54
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the finding and commits to publishing the delayed Ipsos evaluation report in late November 2023, after Office of National Statistics clearance. DBT will write to the Committee following publication to set out its conclusions from the evaluation.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Winter 2023 5.2 Publication of the Ipsos evaluation is anticipated in late November 2023. The report has been delayed pending Office of National Statistics clearance. 5.3 Further details will be provided in due course. The department will write to the Committee following publication of the report to set out what it has concluded from the evaluation.