Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Department withdrew £376 million BBLS loans from guarantee, shifting risk to lenders
Conclusion
The Department told us that as a result of assurance activity which has involved data and analytics, £1.1 billion of loans have been withdrawn from guarantee cover, meaning that any losses on these loans are borne by the 44 DBT ARA 2023 to 2024, pp 105-106 45 Q 27 46 Q 27 47 Q 27 48 DBT ARA 2023 to 2024, p 39 49 Q 27 16 lender rather than by the taxpayer. The Department withdraws loans from guarantee cover where it feels that the lender has not done all that it should have done. The Department told us that it considers its lender assurance activity and the removal of loans from guarantee cover to be an incentive for lenders to maximise recoveries.50 The £1.1 billion figure quoted by the Department is the value of loans removed from guarantee cover across all of its Covid loan guarantee schemes; statistics published by the Department confirm that the value of BBLS loans where the guarantee has been removed is £376 million.51