The Department does not yet know which options for the loan book’s future management would provide best value for the taxpayer in the long term. The costs of managing the loan book to date have been significant, at about £17 million over three years. The Department has not forecast the costs of running the loan book beyond the current Spending Review period (2025–26). As a result, it cannot identify when the cost of the current arrangements for managing the loans in–house would start to exceed the level of repayments received and these arrangements would therefore cease to provide value for money. Nor has the Department undertaken a review of its options for the future of the loan book since