Treasury Committee House of Commons, Committee Office, London SW1A 0AA Tel 020 7219 5769 Email [email protected] Website www.parliament.uk/treascom

Rt Hon. Rishi Sunak MP Chancellor of the Exchequer HM Treasury By Email

19 April 2021 Dear Rishi,

The Treasury Committee has decided to undertake a short inquiry into the lessons to be learnt from the failure of Greensill Capital. The Committee will focus on the regulatory lessons along with the appropriateness of HM Treasury’s response to lobbying on behalf of the company.

HM Treasury has released a number of documents under Freedom of Information requests relating to contacts with Greensill and its representatives, including David Cameron. The Committee requests those documents be provided to the Committee unredacted, except for the names of more junior officials.

To aid the Committee in its work scrutinising the role of Treasury (and its associated public bodies) in relation to Greensill, I would be grateful if you could also provide the Committee with the following information:

• A timeline of any contact which HMT Ministers or officials (whether senior or junior) had with Greensill representatives, or any other Government department’s (or their agencies’ or public bodies’) representatives in relation to Greensill; a description of the nature of each such contact, and all records related to each of those contacts. Redaction of the names of more junior officials will be acceptable; • A timeline of any contact which HMT (including its Ministers) had with its own agencies and public bodies in relation to Greensill; a description of the nature of each such contact, and any records related to each of those contacts. Redaction of the names of more junior officials will be acceptable; • An estimate of the level of HMT resource that went into assessing options for access by Greensill to the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), and how that compared to others attempting access to the facility; • In the response to an FOI request, HMT stated “HM Treasury officials also engaged with a wide range of supply chain finance firms in the same time period to inform policy development.”1 Please could you provide details of the number of these firms and the extent of HMT

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-treasury-greensill-meetings engagement with them? In general did these firms receive the level of consideration (in terms of number of meetings, duration and seniority of HMT participants) as that received by Greensill? • A timeline and details of any HMT analysis undertaken on Greensill, whether related to the CCFF or Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme or any other matter, including on financial stability, regulation or the monitoring of the flow of financing to firms; • A copy of any analysis which HMT has carried out of the growth of supply chain financing (including by non-regulated entities), including analysis commissioned to help understand the significance of the collapse of Greensill; • An outline of any work undertaken by HMT officials to consider the financial position of Greensill in the course of providing any analysis to senior HMT officials or Ministers during the Covid crisis, and a list of who was provided with that analysis. An outline of any such analysis into the financial position of Greensill provided by other entities, whether from within government or elsewhere, and when it was provided; • A description of when and how HMT officials (and Ministers) first became aware of any potential financial difficulties or weaknesses at Greensill; • A list of HMT officials who were made aware of the lobbying by Mr Cameron for Greensill in relation to any work which HMT was overseeing or in which it was participating, and when they were made aware; • A list of HMT officials, if any, contacted by David Cameron (or his representatives) with regard to Greensill, whether formally or informally; a description of the nature of each such contact, and any records related to each of those contacts; • Any informal or formal complaints or concerns raised by HMT staff into work being undertaken on Greensill, redacted for anonymity where appropriate; • Any concerns expressed to Ministers about whether work on Greensill was appropriate, whether at the initiation of that work or during the work being undertaken; • A copy of any rules, procedures or guidance used by HMT relating to lobbying and conflicts of interest; • A list of any employee or Non-Executive Director of HMT (or its agencies) who has simultaneously worked for Greensill at any time since 1 March 2020; • An account of the role, if any, which Treasury ministers or officials played in the decision to approve Greensill as an accredited lender in the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and/or lend to companies associated with Sanjeev Gupta, including in the provision of advice or views; • An outline of the role if any, Treasury ministers and officials had in approving Greensill as a contractor in the Pharmacy Earlier Payment Scheme (PEPS); a confirmation of whether they were aware of such a scheme; confirmation of whether explicit Treasury consent (within the meaning of Box 2.3 of Managing Public Money) was given in relation to any aspect of PEPS as run by Greensill, and if so, if that consent could be supplied to the Committee; and • An outline of any HMT advice or analysis undertaken on Earnd, including on its role in the public sector. In line with the Committee’s previous practice, I intend to publish this letter, and expect the Committee will, in due course, choose to publish your reply. Please could you reply by Thursday 6 May 2021.

Yours sincerely,

Rt Hon. Mel Stride MP Chair of the Treasury Committee