Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the then-Minister of State for the Cabinet Office and the Treasury in the House of Lords on 24 January 2022, Official Report, column 20, which commercial lenders accounted for (a) 87 per cent of loans paid to companies already dissolved, (b) 81 per cent of loans paid to companies incorporated after the eligibility date and (c) 38 per cent of the duplicate Bounce Back Loan Scheme application checks that were not carried out after the requirement was enforced.

We are unable to name the lenders referenced, as doing so would be likely to prejudice their commercial interests, because the position is likely to change as we receive more data from lenders in the course of time.

Approximately £113m of ineligible loans have been identified and removed from guarantee cover, including since 24 January 2022. These include duplicate loans and those paid to companies already dissolved or incorporated after the eligibility date. Therefore, statistics on lender accountability for ineligible loans will have changed since that date.

Differences between lender data should not be viewed as absolute indicators of performance, as lenders have very different portfolios and business models.