UK Inquiry Tracker

Local authority administered COVID grant schemes

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 29 Mar 2023 Closed: 18 Nov 2023 Parliament page

COVID-19 pandemic restrictions varied over time and between different parts of the country, but all had an impact on businesses, many of which were forced to temporarily close or curtail their operations. The government announced in early March 2020 that it would provide grants, administered by local authorities, to support … Read more COVID-19 pandemic restrictions varied over time and between different parts of the country, but all had an impact on businesses, many of which were forced to temporarily close or curtail their operations. The government announced in early March 2020 that it would provide grants, administered by local authorities, to support smaller businesses in England. The National Audit Office has said in its report that government achieved its primary objective to deliver financial support to businesses quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic . BEIS prioritised speed over conducting pre-payment checks for the schemes launched at the start of the pandemic, but did not then act quickly to conduct follow-up checks. As the PAC has also reported, the delays in following-up have made the recovery of amounts wrongly paid more difficult to achieve. Department for Business and Trade (DBT), which is now responsible for these schemes, has still to report on the impact of these grants: for example in terms of maintaining jobs and how much support might have been given to businesses that did not need it. Without such an assessment an overall judgement about the value for money of the schemes remains open. Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the PAC, commenting on the NAO’s findings, said: “Government moved at speed to provide grants to businesses to support the high street during the pandemic. “However in doing so, an estimated £1.1bn was lost to fraud and error, and to date only 1% of this has been recovered. “It is now up to the Department for Business and Trade and the rest of government to act on the lessons from this experience it has learnt so it can be on the front foot for the next crisis.” The Committee will question senior officials at the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury including on how effectively the government set up and delivered the grant schemes. If you have relevant evidence to inform this questioning, please submit it here by 23:59 on Wednesday 26 April. Please have a look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note the Committee cannot accept as evidence material that has been published elsewhere. Show less

2 Recommendations

25 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

2 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 6 events

18 Nov
2023

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Sixty-eighth report from Session 2022-23

6 Sep
2023

Report published

Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority administered COVID support schemes in England

12 Jun
2023

Correspondence

Correspondence from Gareth Davies, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business and Trade, re local authority administered Covid grant sche…

24 May
2023

Correspondence

Correspondence from Philip Duffy, Director General, Growth and Productivity, HM Treasury, re Local authority administered COVID grant schem…

11 May
2023

Oral evidence

Local authority administered COVID grant schemes

11 May
2023

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Local authority administered COVID grant schemes

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

11 May 2023

View on parliament.uk

Local authority administered COVID grant schemes

Anastasia Osbourne · Department for Business and Trade David Bickerton · Department for Business and Trade Gareth Davies CB · Department for Business and Trade Phil Duffy · HM Treasury

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Sixty-Eighth Report - Local authority administered COVID support…	HC 1234	6 Sep 2023	27	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 results

3 Conclusion Acknowledged

Sixty-Eighth Report - Local author…

Improve departmental understanding of small businesses and strengthen mechanisms for acting upon their feedback.

Central government’s distance from the practical realities on the ground meant confusion, delays and uncertainty for small businesses and local authorities. Business, local authorities and MPs all experienced at times a lack of clarity about precisely which businesses were covered … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the recommendation to improve understanding of small businesses and strengthen feedback mechanisms, but provides no specific actions or plans on how this will be achieved.

HM Treasury

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5 Recommendation Acknowledged

Sixty-Eighth Report - Local author…

Set out evaluation conclusions and capture pandemic business support lessons for future policy.

We do not yet know the impact achieved by the £22.6 billion provided to businesses, or how much money was spent that might not have been needed. Government set up grant schemes knowing that they would provide too much to … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the recommendation but provides no specific details on what DBT has concluded from the Ipsos evaluation or HM Treasury's plans to capture lessons from pandemic business support.

HM Treasury

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6 Conclusion Acknowledged

Sixty-Eighth Report - Local author…

Develop contingency plan for future business financial support and understand local government system capabilities.

The government did not have in place a plan for how it would provide support to businesses during a national emergency like the pandemic. At the time the pandemic started there were no contingency plans in place between central and … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees and states it is currently drafting guidance and will consider recommendations from pending reports when planning future schemes. It will also seek to enhance its understanding of local government system capabilities through ongoing collaboration.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 27 of 2 classified

Accepted 18

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 3

Deferred 1

Not Addressed 1

Rejected 3

Total 2 recs + 25 conclusions

Correspondence 2 letters

12 Jun 2023 Correspondence from Gareth Davies, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business and Trade, re local authority administered Covid grant schemes, dated 25 May 2023

Parliament page

24 May 2023 Correspondence from Philip Duffy, Director General, Growth and Productivity, HM Treasury, re Local authority administered COVID grant schemes, dated 17 May 2023

Parliament page