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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what ministerial directions they have given to the British Business Bank; and what were the contents of those directions.

A Ministerial Direction is a formal instruction by a Minister to the Chief Accounting Office of their department to proceed with a spending proposal. These are available on the GOV.UK website.

In the case of the British Business Bank plc, a Written Direction is a formal instruction issued by or on behalf of the British Business Bank’s Shareholder, the Secretary of State for BEIS, to proceed with a requested course of action after the Board has raised its concerns through a Reservation Notice. With respect to the Government’s Covid-19 Loan Schemes, all these notices are publicly available to view on the Bank’s website and GOV.UK.