Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent estimate his Department has made of the level of credit losses arising from fraudulent loans provided through the (a) Bounce Back Loans Scheme and (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

As at March 2024, £1.51 billion has been paid out on the government guarantee on BBLS loans where there was lender reported suspected fraud, and £19.8 million has been paid out on the government guarantee on CBILS loans where there was lender reported suspected fraud.

We are committed to reducing loss to the taxpayer and continue to work across Government, law enforcement and commercial lenders to address fraud in relation to the Covid debt schemes.

Lender recovery activity is monitored via the British Business Bank (BBB) which includes data analytics, review of facilities under the Guarantee Agreement, and an ongoing assurance programme. If lenders have not fulfilled their obligations under the scheme guarantee, they would be unable to claim under the guarantee and any loss would therefore sit with the lender. The National Investigation Service (NATIS) is a secondary line of defence in recovering taxpayers’ money and investigates the most egregious reports of fraudulent abuse within the BBLS. Other recovery efforts include the work of the Insolvency Service and work with lenders to pilot greater use of third-party debt collection specialists, compulsory liquidation for recovery and enforcement in fraud cases.