Recommendation 12

In August 2020, Crossrail Ltd announced that up to £1.1 billion of further funding would be needed to complete the programme. In December 2020, the government agreed to loan the Greater London Assembly (GLA) £825 million to complete the programme, which represented the limit of what the GLA could prudently borrow.32 This additional funding brought total funding for Crossrail Ltd to £15,790 million.33 To date, the Department has provided £2,875 million of loans to Crossrail Ltd to complete the Crossrail programme These loans are: £750 million to TfL in December 2018; £1,300 million to the GLA in December 2018; and an additional £825 million to GLA in December 2020. The GLA loans are expected to be paid back via London’s Business Rate Supplement (BRS) and Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy (MCIL) with the Commissioner telling us it 23 Q 11 24 Q 14 25 C&AG’s Report, figure 11 26 Q 12 27 Qq 26, 45 28 Q26; C&AG’s Report, para 3.23 29 Qq 12, 27 30 C&AG’s Report, para 3.19 31 Elizabeth Line Committee, 15 July 2021, page 30, para 4.7 32 C&AG’s report, Appendix 3 para 3 33 Funding for Network Rail costs is agreed separately to funding for Crossrail Ltd. Total funding for the Crossrail programme is currently £18.8 billion – £15,790 million to Crossrail Ltd and £2,980 million to Network Rail. Total funding excludes the cost of new trains and depot. Crossrail: A progress update 11 could take up to 2043 for full repayment.34 The TfL loan is to be financed and repaid from TfL’s own revenues.35 The government has separately provided over £4 billion of loans to TfL during the COVID pandemic to support the continued running of services.36