Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what monitoring the Government undertakes to assess whether funding from the (a) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and (b) Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been provided to firms based outside of the UK.

In order to be eligible for finance under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), a small or medium sized enterprise (SME) must have the core of its business operations based in the UK. An SME which is foreign-owned is in principle eligible to apply for CBILS, provided it is trading in the UK (not just selling into the UK) and uses the CBILS facility to support its business activity in the UK. The same is true for an SME which has UK ownership but is registered abroad.

For firms to be eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), they must have a UK bank account and UK payroll. However, HMRC will continue to monitor claim data, compare against records and review reports of any fraudulent or misleading claims. HMRC will not hesitate to take action against those found to be abusing or misleading the scheme.