Minister for Industry (): A Departmental Minute is
being laid before Parliament today setting out the particulars of
a new contingent liability associated with Jaguar Land Rover.
It is normal practice, when a government department proposes to
undertake a contingent liability in excess of £300,000 for which
there is no specific statutory authority, for the Minister
concerned to present a departmental Minute to Parliament giving
particulars of the liability created and explaining the
circumstances; and to refrain from incurring the liability until
fourteen sitting days after the issue of the Minute, except in
cases of special urgency.
Given the particular urgency of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) financing
requirement, particularly in order to provide urgent support to
members of its supply chain, it is regrettable that we were
unable to provide the House with the normal period for
consideration prior to the guarantee being entered into. Due to
an administrative error, it also regrettable that we were not
able to provide the House with a Departmental Minute with the
previous WMS on this matter. We are rectifying that today.
JLR requested that UKEF provides its export development guarantee
(EDG) product to a commercial loan for working capital of £1.5bn,
repayable over 5 years, to help it manage the impact of the
recent cyberattack on its export business and wider operations.
UKEF had existing exposure to JLR and providing this additional
support fell outside UKEF's normal underwriting criteria. If this
liability is called, provision for any payment will be sought
through the normal Supply procedure.
