Questions on an Urgent Question made in the House of Commons on Tuesday 18 January
"...focus on one or two emblematic failures, but these issues run far wider.
The oversight by both BEIS and the British Business Bank of the panel lenders of the BBLS has been nothing less than woeful.
They have been assisted by the Treasury, which appears to have no knowledge of, or little interest in, the consequences of fraud to our economy or society..."
"... at the beginning of Covid, BEIS had the grand total of two counter-fraud officials on its staff, neither of whom were experienced in the subject.
They refused to engage constructively with the counter-fraud function that sits in the Cabinet Office, has considerable expertise and reports directly to me.
Schoolboy errors were made: for example, allowing more than 1,000 companies to receive bounce-back loans which were not even trading when Covid struck..."
"...banks’ ability to claim on the 100% state guarantee for non-payment. We do this without implementing a standard bar of quality assurance on what we expect as counter-fraud measures
we know that we have serious discrepancies. For example, three out of the seven main lenders account for 87% of loans paid out to companies already dissolved."
"Two of the seven account for 81% of cases where loans were paid out to companies incorporated post-Covid."
"One of the seven accounts for 38% of the duplicate BBL application checks that were not carried out after the requirement was enforced.
Bizarrely, it took six weeks to get the duplicate check into place, during which time 900,000 loans, or 60% in total, were paid out, bearing in mind that some £47 billion has been paid out."
"Despite pressing BEIS and the BBB for over a year, there is still no single dashboard of management data to scrutinise lender performance. It is inexcusable. We have already paid out nearly £1 billion to banks claiming the state guarantee."
"The percentage of losses estimated to be from fraud rather than credit failure is 26%."
"...there is not even a common definition of fraud to trigger the payment of the guarantee."
"...educating Treasury officials as to why reliance on audits is far too reactive and generally happening well after the horse has bolted."
"...failure by Treasury or BEIS officials to understand the complete disjunction between the level of criminality..." "and enforcement capability. For example, NATIS, a specialist agency, can handle around 200 cases a year; local police forces might double that."
"Total fraud loss across government is estimated at £29 billion a year. Of course, not all can be stopped, but a combination of arrogance, indolence and ignorance freezes the government machine."
Lord Tunnicliffe (Lab)
The Minister of State, Cabinet Office and the Treasury
(Lord Agnew of Oulton) (Con)
Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)
Baroness Kramer (LD)
The Deputy Speaker
(Baroness Fookes) (Con)
Finance Bill 2016 [4] New Clause 7 - Review of tax treatment of Scottish Limited Partnerships, 5.09.2016
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You might find this an interesting division of views on Scottish Limited Partnerships
Division 55: [ Ссылка ]
Money Laundering In The UK - House of Lords, 13.01.2022
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Resignation of Lord Agnew of Oulton, Minister of State (HM Treasury) - House of Lords, 24.01.2022
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Urgent Question - Government’s 'plan to bring forward' an economic crime bill, 26.01.2022
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Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, 11.10.2016
Revolving door between the public and private sector and the Government
Alexandra Runswick, Director, Unlock Democracy
David Hine, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
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The Revolving Door - Ian Hislop & Richard Brooks, ACoBA
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Code of Conduct Consultation - Committee on Standards, 25.01.2022
Ian Hislop, Richard Brooks & Solomon Hughes of Private Eye (3) - Committee on Standards, 25.01.2022
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How ministers and mandarins make life after government pay.
'Post-Brexit, it’s all change at the top. A bunch of ministers are out of a job and advisers and top offcials might find it’s time to move on, too. But fret not. A well-trodden path from the public to private sector ensures ministers and mandarins looking to profit from their time in government are all but guaranteed a job in business, usually in an area over which they have exerted great influence.'
To read more download - 'Revolving Doors, Public Servants, Private Paydays'
A Special Report by Richard Brooks and Solomon Hughes
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