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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of companies in receipt of a coronavirus large business interruption loan that paid out dividends to shareholders before restrictions were put in place and (b) average amount that was paid out in dividends to shareholders.

As of 16 August, 60,409 facilities have been offered through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS), worth a total of £13.68bn.

Restrictions on dividend payments have been in place since the introduction of the scheme on 20 April. Businesses taking out a loan through the scheme could continue making dividend payments, but could not increase the size of those payments for as long as any facility under CLBILS remained outstanding.

When the scheme was amended on 26 May to increase the maximum loan size to £200m, further restrictions on dividend payments were introduced for companies borrowing more than £50m. The new restrictions meant that borrowers seeking loans of over £50m could not make any dividend payments (other than those that have already been declared) until the facility had been repaid in full.

Shareholder dividends are listed in companies’ annual reports and are available through Companies House records.