Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 18
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)
The Department has not updated its assumptions on borrower failure since December 2022, for example, in light of the number of insolvencies to date.44 We therefore asked what actions it would take for borrowers in financial difficulties. The Department told us it would need to make decisions on a 39 C&AG’s Report, para 14 40 Qq 41, 42; C&AG’s Report, para 21 41 Q 41 42 Qq 21, 32 43 Qq 37–39 44 Qq 92, 93; C&AG’s Report, para 2.20 14 case–by–case basis. It said that it would not hesitate to use all the financial levers it had to get the maximum of taxpayers’ money back. It would, for example, be willing to initiate insolvency procedures for those who started defaulting on their loans, except if there was a policy objective not to because of the impact of the insolvency on the wider sport or cultural area. In such cases, it would go to ministers for a decision.45 The Department told us that it and its loan agents would carry out negotiations on individual insolvencies, supported by external advisers as required, and that the loans team within the Department and loan agents included professionals with experience of insolvency.46
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.