Recommendation 27

We asked what lessons had been learnt or what could have been done differently as a result of Greensill’s access to these taxpayer-backed schemes. The Treasury told us that it wanted to review all the reports and inquiries, such as the Boardman Review and reports by Select Committees, “in the round” before coming to any conclusions specifically on Greensill. The Department described a positive lesson from the Greensill experience that 71 Qq 147–149, 150–152 72 Press Release - July 6, 2021 - British Business Bank (british-business-bank.co.uk) 73 Qq 145–147 74 Q 152; C&AG’s Report, para 7 75 Q 123 76 Qq 153–4 77 Committee of Public Accounts, Initial lessons from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thirteenth Report of the Session 2021–22, HC 175, 25 July 2021 78 Committee of Public Accounts, COVID-19: Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Thirty-Third Report of the Session 2019–21, HC 687, 16 December 2020 79 C&AG’s Report, para 20 Lessons from Greensill Capital: accreditation to business support schemes 19 the “careful auditing, the fast reaction to stop new lending and the process of suspending the guarantee” led to a situation where it was hopeful it had correctly protected public money.80