Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
The Department has commissioned evaluation of its business support schemes; however, it cautioned that it...
Conclusion
The Department has commissioned evaluation of its business support schemes; however, it cautioned that it is proving challenging to separate the impact of various aspects of government’s overall support package which also included, for example the furlough scheme.61 Several of the Department’s major areas of expenditure in the coming years, such as supporting public sector decarbonisation and achieving net zero, will again require routing taxpayer funds through third parties as it did with COVID-19 business support schemes. 54 Qq 18, 21 55 Q 16 56 Q 64 57 Q 62 58 ICAEW, paras 20, 26, 34 59 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Annual report and accounts 2020–21, 25 November 2021, Accountability report, page 123 60 ICAEW, paras 34–35 61 Q 40 14 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Annual Report and Accounts 2020–21 2 Post Office Horizon IT programme compensation
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: December 2022 5.2 The department continues to refine its estimates of the levels of fraud and error across its COVID-19 business support schemes, including the COVID-19 loan schemes and grants. 5.3 The department will publish revised estimates for Cohort 1 grants and first estimates for the subsequent schemes in its 2021-22 annual report and accounts due to be published in Autumn 2022. See paragraph 1.4 above. 5.4 As part of the assurance work, the department will write to local authorities with the findings and asking them were relevant to start the debt recovery process. 5.5 The COVID-19 loan schemes are delegated schemes, and primary responsibility for detection, investigation and recovery of fraud sits with lenders, in line with their usual processes. The Cabinet Office's fraud analytics programme aids lenders in this process by improving the information available to them on suspected fraud, which they can use to support their internal investigations and pursue recoveries. 5.6 Meanwhile, the department is working with NATIS, the Insolvency Service and other law enforcement agencies to pursue investigations into fraud in the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS). At the 2022 Spring Statement, the department secured additional funding for NATIS and the British Business Bank to target abuse of BBLS.