Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applications to restrict publication of personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006 Companies House were (a) received and (b) granted, in each of the past three years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The table below sets out the number of applications received to restrict the publication of personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006
Year | Applications received | Applications granted |
2020 | 38 | 15 |
2021 | 42 | 10 |
2022 | 72 | 25 |
There are 4 applications currently pending. These figures have been manually collated. This is supplied as management information; it is unaudited and is subject to change. It should, therefore, be used for indicative purposes only.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many judicial reviews against Companies House for refusal to grant applications to restrict the publication of personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006 were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful in each of the last three years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There have been no judicial reviews against Companies House for refusal to grant applications to restrict personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006 in the last three years.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the cost to the public purse has been of the 100 per cent guarantee under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme for loans (a) which have been found to be fraudulent and (b) where the recipient has defaulted on that loan.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As of 31 July 2022, £263 million has been paid out to lenders against loans with a ‘suspected fraud’ flag. It is important to note that this is the figure for monies paid out in settlement so far, and does not include loans which are currently in default or claimed status but which have not been settled.
Please note that ‘suspected fraud’ will not necessarily equate to actual fraud in the scheme and the marking of a loan as ‘suspected fraud’ within the scheme portal does not necessarily mean that there has been any proven wrongdoing on the part of the borrower.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the British Business Bank has spent on legal fees to challenge freedom of information requests made by the Times newspaper and Spotlight on Corruption on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
To date, the British Business Bank has incurred a legal spend of £28,137.88 plus VAT challenging the Freedom of Information request made by Spotlight on Corruption on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, following a complaint by Spotlight on Corruption to the Information Commissioner’s Office, and subsequently an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal (after the ICO supported the Bank’s original position).
The Bank has not incurred any legal spend in relation to any Freedom of Information request made by the Times in relation to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to recover money lost to fraud from the British Business Bank’s Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The delegated nature of the schemes places primary responsibility on lenders to recover money lost to fraud. Government continues to work with lenders, law enforcement, and partners to recover fraudulently obtained loans.
As of October 2022, Insolvency Service action on Covid-19 support scheme fraud has resulted in 391 director disqualifications and 119 bankruptcy restrictions, the majority relating to BBLS fraud. They have also achieved 2 criminal prosecutions. The National Investigation Service (NATIS) have a total recoveries target of £6 million this financial year and have recovered £5.8 million to date.
At the Spring Statement 2022, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced almost £50 million of additional funding for counter-fraud work, of which over half related to Bounce Back Loans.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with the British Business Bank on its decision to challenge freedom of information requests made by the Times newspaper and Spotlight on Corruption on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No Freedom of Information requests from the Times in relation to the Bounce Back Loans Scheme are subject to challenge either before the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or the First Tier Tribunal.
BEIS officials were sighted on British Business Bank written responses to the ICO in relation a complaint brought by Spotlight on Corruption on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and were also sighted on the Bank’s subsequent response to Spotlight’s appeal to the First Tier Tribunal.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an estimate of the amount of money lost to fraud from the British Business Bank’s Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The latest estimates for suspected fraud and error losses in the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) can be found in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2021-2022, accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish a list of all the companies that have received support through the British Business Bank's Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Arguments regarding the possible disclosure of individual details for Bounce Back Loan scheme borrowers have now been heard at First Tier Tribunal.
The Tribunal’s decision on this issue is expected in due course and it would be inappropriate to comment further until that decision is received.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of how much and what proportion of the Government funding paid out through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme which was used by loan recipients to pay off (a) loans, (b) overdrafts, (c) credit cards and (d) other bank-issued debt with commercial lenders.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The first phase of the evaluation of the Covid loan schemes delivered by the British Business Bank was published on 14 June 2022 and found 13% of Bounce Back Loan borrowers used loan proceeds to make debt repayments. We do not have this data broken down by type of debt.
The refinancing of debt using a Bounce Back Loan, for example paying off credit card bills or an overdraft, may well have eased the financial burden on small businesses during the pandemic and would be a legitimate use of the scheme.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the then-Minister of State for the Cabinet Office and the Treasury in the House of Lords on 24 January 2022, Official Report, column 20, which commercial lenders accounted for (a) 87 per cent of loans paid to companies already dissolved, (b) 81 per cent of loans paid to companies incorporated after the eligibility date and (c) 38 per cent of the duplicate Bounce Back Loan Scheme application checks that were not carried out after the requirement was enforced.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are unable to name the lenders referenced, as doing so would be likely to prejudice their commercial interests, because the position is likely to change as we receive more data from lenders in the course of time.
Approximately £113m of ineligible loans have been identified and removed from guarantee cover, including since 24 January 2022. These include duplicate loans and those paid to companies already dissolved or incorporated after the eligibility date. Therefore, statistics on lender accountability for ineligible loans will have changed since that date.
Differences between lender data should not be viewed as absolute indicators of performance, as lenders have very different portfolios and business models.