PWLB to end following consultation

The government is to discontinue the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) and give its powers of lending to local authorities to the Treasury, a government consultation has found.

Currently, the functions of the PWLB lie with its secretary, a civil servant in the UK Debt Management Office, which is a Treasury executive agency. Since 2004 local authorities have been responsible for making their own borrowing decisions without government consent

In light of this, the Treasury concluded that the specific role of the PWLB was no longer required. Transferring its lending functions to the Treasury will, it stated in its consultation response, “align policy and operational responsibilities to current practice.”

The Treasury launched the consultation on abolishing the PWLB on 12 May 2016. It closed on 3 August with 25 of 32 respondents agreeing to the action.

The PWLB began in 1793 and became established on a permanent basis in 1817.

• Response to the consultation