Public Works Loan Board
The Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) (Welsh: Bwrdd Benthyciadau Gwaith Cyhoeddus) is a statutory body of the UK Government that provides loans to public bodies from the National Loans Fund. Until 2020, when they were abolished, the members of the PWLB were known as the Public Works Loan Commissioners.
History
The PWLB was established on an ad hoc basis in 1793, and was originally known as the Exchequer Loan Commissioners. The PWLB was put on a statutory basis by the Public Works Loans Act 1875.[1]
Since July 2002 it has been managed as part of the UK Debt Management Office, one of HM Treasury's executive agencies. Prior to 25 February 2020 PWLB loans were provided by the Public Works Loan Commissioners. Following a government consultation in 2016 the Public Bodies (Abolition of Public Works Loan Commissioners) Order 2020 abolished the Commissioners and transferred their statutory powers to HM Treasury.
Operations
The PWLB provides loans to local authorities of all types in Great Britain, primarily for capital projects.
Eligible bodies
- English and Welsh county councils
- English district councils (including unitary authorities)
- Welsh county borough councils
- London borough councils
- the City of London Corporation
- the Greater London Authority and its functional bodies
- the councils of local government areas in Scotland
- parish and community councils
- the Council of the Isles of Scilly
- the Broads Authority
- integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives
- police authorities
- fire and rescue authorities
- waste disposal authorities
- port health authorities
- other authorities in England, Wales or Scotland having power to levy council tax or to issue a precept or levy
Further reading
- Webster, Ian (2017). "The Public Works Loan Board and the growth of the state in nineteenth-century England". Economic History Review. 71 (3): 887–908. doi:10.1111/ehr.12609.