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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of covid-19 loans that were claimed fraudulently but cannot be retrieved.

We continue to work with lenders and enforcement agencies to recover fraudulently obtained loans.

The Department’s 2020-2021 Annual Report & Accounts has a central estimate for fraud and error loss of relating to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme specifically. We do not hold a central estimate for fraud and error loss for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme or the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

The final level of loss will not be known for some time, as not all suspected fraud will necessarily translate into a fraud occurrence, and because some fraudulently obtained funds will be recovered or repaid.