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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of fraudulent applications under the (a) Bounce Back Loan Scheme and (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme to date.

As part of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) application process lenders are required to undertake fraud, Know Your Customer and Anti Money Laundering checks. In addition, the application form makes clear that any individual who knowingly provides false information is at risk of criminal prosecution.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme is operated on the same basis as fully commercial loans, with lenders conducting the full range of checks they would usually make, subject to the specific eligibility requirements of the scheme. The Department continues to work with other Government Departments, lenders, and law enforcement agencies to tackle fraudulent abuse of the schemes.

Further details of how we expect the schemes to perform, including an estimate of fraud losses, will be set out in the BEIS Annual Report for 2020-21 published later this year.