Home Office: ODA-funded Support
Debate between Baroness Penn and Baroness Chakrabarti(7 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)
On where the Government choose to accommodate people, the Minister will recall that, in July, the High Court found that the Home Office’s use of hotels for unaccompanied child refugees was “systematic and unlawful”. Have the Government decided on a response to that judgment?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the Government will update the House when we respond to that judgment.
Covid-19: Financial Support Schemes
Debate between Baroness Penn and Baroness Chakrabarti
Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)
Never mind—there is plenty of time.
Three quarters of a million new companies were registered—most of them dormant. Will the Minister tell the House how many of those dormant companies were given Covid financial support and how many took support and then were dissolved?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, in relation to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, the estimate of fraud in that scheme has already come down, but there is more work to be done. On the question from the noble Baroness, we have given new powers to the Insolvency Service to look at these issues and to stop companies with bounce-back loans seeking to escape liability for their loans by winding down before settling their debts. Some 61,758 companies holding £2.1 billion of loans have been prevented from striking off to give lenders time to assess for fraud.