Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 25
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 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 and its subsequent management of these loans. Instead, we had to direct our questions to the Director General for Policy.65 Professional rugby union is the area where the Department is most heavily exposed in terms of both the amount of loans it has made, 57% of all its loans to sports bodies, and the sport’s financial health.66 60 Q 112 61 Qq 111–114; Letter from DCMS Permanent Secretary, 25 February 2025 62 Qq 115; Letter from DCMS Permanent Secretary, 25 February 2025 63 Qq 1, 3; DCMS register of board member interests 64 Q 90; Letter from DCMS Permanent Secretary, 25 February 2025; Letter from Director General for Policy at DCMS, 25 February 2025 65 Qq 90–105 66 Q 93 17
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.