Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has issued any guidance, internally or to other Departments on the risks or benefits of contracting companies to provide payroll finance solutions to staff delivering public services, in the last 10 years.

A joint communication from the Chief People Officer, Director General of Public Spending (HMT) and Government Chief Commercial Officer was issued in December 2020. This communication related to early payroll schemes, advising departments to ensure they were making full use of all options already available, including salary advances and loan schemes before considering proposals from third party finance providers. It further reminded departments that if they did want to introduce a new type of finance arrangement, they were required to seek internal sign off from their departmental Accounting Officer before approaching HM Treasury for final approval.