Recommendation 6

Owing to a conflict of interest, the Department has allowed a gap to arise in accountability to Parliament for a significant amount of public money relating to the loans it made to rugby union. Since her appointment as Permanent Secretary in 2023, the Department’s Accounting Officer has had a conflict of interest regarding rugby union. She has properly declared this conflict and recused herself from relevant discussions and decisions, and the Department has put in place arrangements involving other Department staff to handle the conflict. However, the Department is most heavily exposed to rugby union in terms of both the amount of loans it has made and the financial health of the sport. The conflict of interest meant that we could not question the Permanent Secretary directly about the £124 million that the Department had loaned to top–tier rugby union clubs (57% of its total COVID loans to sports bodies) and its subsequent management of these loans. recommendation The Department should consider alternative arrangements for filling the accountability gap to Parliament relating to rugby union loans, for example involving the Permanent Secretary of another department, who could be appointed as the Accounting Officer for this item. 7 1 The arrangements for managing the loan book Introduction