Source · National Audit Office

DCMS’s management of its COVID-19 loan book

Published: 18 Dec 2024 Recommendations: 5 Type: Value for Money NAO confirmed: 5 Department: Department for Culture, Media & Sport

Government has made progress in recovering COVID-era sports and culture loans, but it needs a long-term plan to manage repayments at scale.

Dept: Department for Culture, Media & Sport Topics: Arts and cultureBusiness and industryCOVID-19Society and cultureSports and leisure nao.org.uk →

Recommendations

5 items

3 accepted 2 partially accepted 4 implemented 1 in progress

Rec	Recommendation	Addressee	Acceptance	Implementation
1	DCMS should: a As a priority, model its expected costs for managing the loan book over its lifetime. This should include both one-off and ongoing costs, including for DCMS, its loans agents and external providers, and may need to include a range of costs where there is less certainty in the longer term. Ref Page 14, 23a · Implemented Q4 2025-26	Department for Culture, Media and Sport	Accepted	In progress ✓ NAO
2	DCMS should: b Assess future scenarios which may arise across the loan book and plan for a clear series of interventions for responding to different scenarios where loss of public money may be a risk. This work should feed into its cost-modelling so it has better visibility of whether the financial returns outweigh the costs of managing the loans. Ref Page 14, 23b · Implemented Q3 2025-26	Department for Culture, Media and Sport	Partially accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
3	DCMS should: c Working with its loan agents, set out an overarching engagement strategy for borrowers and how it expects to adapt this over time, as the scale and nature of its portfolio changes. Within this it should use its knowledge about segmentation of risk and tailor its engagement with borrowers accordingly, so that engagement is dynamic and proportionate. Ref Page 14, 23c · Implemented Q3 2025-26	Department for Culture, Media and Sport	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
4	DCMS should: d Set out a strategy for the longer-term evaluation of its loan book. This assessment should include a clear articulation of the standards by which it assesses value for money of its management, including how it will know if the loans have met their objectives and how the loans have interacted with its wider support for the sectors. Ref Page 15, 23d · Implemented Q3 2025-26	Department for Culture, Media and Sport	Partially accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO
5	DCMS should: e Develop its approach to gathering and learning lessons, working with its loan agents and external providers, so that it has a knowledge management plan to ensure relevant background and insight are preserved over the loan book?s lifetime. This should include ongoing capability that will equip it to fulfil its responsibilities, recognising this will change over time, and succession planning for specialist skills. Ref Page 15, 23e · Implemented Q2 2025-26	Department for Culture, Media and Sport	Accepted	Implemented ✓ NAO