Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 7
20th Report - DCMS management of COVID-19 loans
Published 2 Apr 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee DCMS management of COVID-19 loans All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We therefore asked the Department what it would have done differently if it had to set up a similar loan scheme again. It told us that it had tried to build in lessons learned as it went through the process. For example, it had been optimistic about the number of staff and the capability it required to manage the loans. It had since, therefore, increased significantly the resources in its loan team, with recruitment almost complete by July 2024, and had embedded in this team digital, data and technology expertise, which it previously had not had. It had also clarified the scheme’s governance arrangements in July 2024 and codified its processes. The Department emphasised that it was now in a solid place with regard to 4 C&AG’s Report, paras 14, 15, 17 and 21 5 C&AG’s Report, para 6 6 Qq 7, 9 9 the scheme’s objectives, governance and expertise, and had managed the scheme in a solid and effective way. It was cautiously optimistic about the effectiveness of its management model going forward.7
From: Public Accounts Committee, 20th Report - DCMS management of COVID-19 loans (HC 364), 2 April 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twentieth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twentieth report from Session 2024-25
Published 10 July 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee's recommendations on loan book management, the loan management system, long-term options, repayment forecasts, borrower management and borrower engagement, but disagrees with the recommendation on rugby union accountability.
- On long-term options, the government agrees and says a strategic review, to be completed in 2025-26, will assess options "including, but not limited to, a sale or partial sale of the loan book".
- On repayment estimates, the government agrees, with a target date of December 2025. It says further cost, repayment and insolvency modelling will be done through its strategic review.
- On the PwC contract, the government agrees and says the full loan management system functionality was implemented in March 2025 "for under £300,000". The PwC contract has been extended for a further year.
- On rugby union accountability, the government disagrees with the recommendation. It "continues to believe" accountability is best achieved by a Director General within the department as Additional Accounting Officer, rather than a Permanent Secretary from another department.