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. The members of the PWLB are known as the Public Works Loan Commissioners.

History

The PWLB was established in 1793 as a non-ministerial government department. Since July 2002 it has been managed as part of the UK Debt Management Office, one of HM Treasury's executive agencies.

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
• City of London Corporation
• 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

• A 2017 study in the Economic History Review: "The Public Works Loan Board and the growth of the state in nineteenth-century England"

See also

• Exchequer Bill Loan Commission
• Local Government Funding Agency

External links

• www.dmo.gov.uk/responsibilities/local-authority-lending-pwlb/