Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
34th Report - Department for Business and Trade Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24
Public Accounts Committee
HC 818
Published 25 June 2025
Conclusions (11)
7
Conclusion
In the Department’s 2023–24 Annual Report and Accounts, it estimated that £866 million of the combined Horizon Schemes provisions would be settled within 1 year.8 In a letter provided after our oral evidence session, the Department confirmed that it paid a total of £701 million in scheme settlements during 2024–25, …
24
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The BBLS was open for applications from 4 May 2020 to 31 March 2021, and in that time 1.5 million loans were issued, to a total value of £47.4 billion. The BBLS was designed to reduce the time taken to pay out the loans, in part by reducing the checks …
Government Response Summary
The Department's responsibilities also include the ongoing management of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, which was set up as part of a suite of measures to provide support to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
27
Conclusion
The Department told us, for context, that around £20 billion of the loans issued by lenders under its Covid loan guarantee schemes (which included the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, as well as the BBLS) have been repaid in full and that …
28
Conclusion
The Department told us that it is tackling fraud in a range of ways. These include the in-house fraud team which oversees all the counter-fraud activity, an audit and assurance process carried out by BBB with oversight from a Board, which includes representatives from the Treasury and Cabinet Office as …
30
Conclusion
The Department explained that the first and primary responsibility for chasing fraud remains with the lenders. Due to the 100% guarantee provided to lenders under the BBLS, the incentive is not there to recover fraudulent loans. The Department has, however, worked with lenders to recoup some of the losses.49
31
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told us that as a result of assurance activity which has involved data and analytics, £1.1 billion of loans have been withdrawn from guarantee cover, meaning that any losses on these loans are borne by the 44 DBT ARA 2023 to 2024, pp 105-106 45 Q 27 46 …
32
Conclusion
The Department told us that at the time the BBLS was set up, the real worry was the number of businesses which could fail, and up to around half a million businesses were sustained by the intervention. However, the scheme design does not help in terms of tackling fraud and …
36
Conclusion
Government departments prepare financial statements in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM).57 As a result of the inclusion of the balances and transactions relating to the business-focused elements of BEIS the Department was required to prepare financial statements which were wider …
37
Conclusion
HM Treasury sets timetable expectations for the laying of Departmental resource accounts before Parliament in a ‘Dear Accounting Officer’ letter. This provides direction to Accounting Officers of Departments and other public bodies on preparing their Annual Report and Accounts under IFRS and the FReM. The 2023–24 letter set out that …
38
Conclusion
The Department told us that the delay in publishing its 2023–24 accounts was due to three key reasons. These were: the requirement to merge the financial information of its predecessor departments; the challenging learning curve required to account for more complex balances aligned with insufficient resources; and the complexity inherent …
39
Conclusion
The Department explained challenges it faced in being required to merge the financial information of its predecessor departments to present three years of financial information. As instructed by the FReM, the Department was required to restate comparatives for the previous period in accordance with IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements.62 …