The United Kingdom Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy says it received six Ministerial directions instructing its Permanent Secretary to push ahead with extraordinary measures to tackle the Coronavirus crisis.
The directions overruled concerns from former Permanent Secretary, Alex Chisholm, and his successor, Sam Beckett (pictured) that the schemes, providing grants and loans to businesses hit by the pandemic, did not represent value for money.
In each case, the Department’s Minister, Alok Sharma, gave the green light to the scheme.
Permanent Secretaries must ask for a written Ministerial direction when they believe a proposed policy or program would breach the Treasury’s Managing Public Money guidance – for example, if a program seems unfeasible or is unlikely to provide value for money.
The instructions are among 11 Ministerial directions issued to Department heads in a two-month period to spend funds outside usual Treasury money-management guidelines for Coronavirus-focused schemes.
In all six cases, Mr Chisholm or Ms Beckett raised concerns about the value for money presented by the scheme in question.
In one case, Ms Beckett also said there were risks about the feasibility of the Local Authority Grants Fund Scheme, giving financial aid to small businesses that were not eligible for other Coronavirus grants or loans.
In a letter on 1 May, Ms Beckett said Local Authorities would likely encounter “difficulties… trying to administer efficiently and error-free a new scheme during a pandemic and [at] the pace which is needed to support businesses”.
Mr Sharma said he had been given permission by the Treasury for the scheme to go ahead.
London, 13 June 2020
