Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 26
26
We asked whether, with hindsight and more time, it would have been possible to design...
Conclusion
We asked whether, with hindsight and more time, it would have been possible to design a scheme that would have had significantly less exposure to fraud and error than 61 Q104; Public Accounts Committee, Covid-19: Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Thirty-Third Report of Session 2019–21, HC 687, 16 December 2020, para 19 62 Public Accounts Committee, Covid-19: Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Thirty-Third Report of Session 2019–21, HC 687, 16 December 2020, para 6 63 Qq 22, 69, 89–90 64 Qq 89–90; C&AG’s Report, para 17 65 Comptroller & Auditor General, Support to businesses during a recession, Session 2009–2010, HC 490, 26 March 2010, para 18 66 Q 68 67 Q 91 68 Qq 10, 105 18 Bounce Back Loans Scheme: Follow-up the Scheme. The Department explained that a situation where it needs to introduce a support scheme with a 100% guarantee and achieve a fast disbursement would “probably be more infrequent than once-in-a-generation events”. However, it acknowledged that it would now be better prepared as it has better data sharing in place and can take advantage of counter-fraud measures like “duplicate flags” or the “HMRC turnover checks”.69 69 Qq 68, 70 Bounce Back Loans Scheme: Follow-up 19
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
7: PAC conclusion: The Department has not yet identified how it will share the lessons from the Scheme. 7a: PAC recommendation: The Department and The Bank should establish a strategy on how it intends to share lessons from the scheme within a month of the publication of their first evaluation report. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2022 7.2 In its Treasury Minute response to the Committee's Twenty-Sixth Report of the Session 2021-22, the department agreed to work in conjunction with HM Treasury and the Bank to produce a report covering lessons learned across the COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes, which it intends to do by Summer 2022.