The Department did not employ a specialist loan management company. It told us that it adopted a hybrid approach, with separate loan agents for culture and sport and a managed service provider, to the management of its loan book in line with a recommendation from PwC.10 The Department also said that the insights its loan agents had on those bodies in receipt of a loan had been invaluable in helping it to understand the borrowers,11 and that the range of professional services available from PwC includes loan management and insolvency.12. However, the two loan agents had initially set up separate loan management systems, which subsequently required integration.13 The Department also acknowledged that there was a tension for both itself and its loan agents between its primary objective for the loan book of maximising the financial returns to the Exchequer, and the policy objective of maintaining the viability of the culture and sports sectors, which it had sought to address with clear protocols for decision–making.14 Management of PwC contract