In addition to its guaranteed loan schemes, the Department provided £21.8 billion in grant funding to local authorities to distribute to businesses in their areas. The Department set the eligibility criteria and provided guidance on grant making to local authorities.20 In the first three grant schemes, which account for £11.5 billion21 of this funding, the 11 Qq 10, 13, 67, 72–77, 99–101; C&AG’s Report, page 134 12 Q 67; C&AG’s Report, page 130 13 Q 24 14 Qq 9, 17 15 C&AG’s Report, Introduction, page 130 16 C&AG’s Report, pages 130–133 17 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Annual report and accounts 2020–21, 25 November 2021, Accountability report, page 121 and Note 19, page 215; C&AG’s Report, page 133 18 Q 10; C&AG’s Report, page 132 19 If 11.15% implies a fraud loss of £4.9 billion, 7.5% would equate to approximately £3.3 billion 20 Q 67; C&AG’s Report, pages 130, 133–134 21 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Annual report and accounts 2020–21, 25 November 2021, Note 4.4, page 167: £10,824 million in 2019–20 plus £683 million in 2020–21 = £11,507 million or £11.5 billion 10 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Annual Report and Accounts 2020–21 Department estimates 8.9%, or just over £1 billion, is lost to fraud and error.22 Again, this figure represents a central estimate in a range between £514 million (4.4%) and nearly £1.6 billion (13.4%).23 The Department told us that this was an estimate that it has low confidence in.24 In written evidence, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), a regulator of the accountancy and audit profession, believes there is a significant chance that this underestimates the level of fraud and error; however, it also considers that the Department has had sufficient time to collect the information it needs from local authorities and perform adequate checks to calculate a more accurate estimate.25 As a result of these material levels of fraud and erro