The Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) was established in 1793 to provide loans to public bodies from the National Loans Fund. It today provides loans to local authorities of all types in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, primarily for capital

Capital expenditure

Capital expenditures are expenditures creating future benefits. A capital expenditure is incurred when a business spends money either to buy fixed assets or to add to the value of an existing fixed asset with a useful life extending beyond the taxable year...

 projects, but also as a lender of last resort

Lender of last resort

A lender of last resort is an institution willing to extend credit when no one else will. The term refers especially to a reserve financial institution, most often the central bank of a country, intended to avoid bankruptcy of banks or other institutions deemed systemically important or 'too big to...

.

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

The PWLB is a non-ministerial government department, now managed as part of the UK Debt Management Office

UK Debt Management Office

The UK Debt Management Office , was established on 1 April 1998. The DMO is responsible for carrying out the Government's debt management policy of minimising financing costs over the long term, taking account of risk, and managing the aggregate cash needs of the Exchequer in the most...

, one of HM Treasury

HM Treasury

HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...

's executive agencies.

Eligible bodies

• English and Welsh county council
  County council
  A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
  
  s
• English district councils (including unitary authorities
  Unitary authority
  A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
  
  )
• Welsh county borough
  County borough
  County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
  
   councils
• London borough
  London borough
  The administrative area of Greater London contains thirty-two London boroughs. Inner London comprises twelve of these boroughs plus the City of London. Outer London comprises the twenty remaining boroughs of Greater London.-Functions:...
  
   councils
• City of London Corporation
• Greater London Authority
  Greater London Authority
  The Greater London Authority is the top-tier administrative body for Greater London, England. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of London, currently Boris Johnson, and an elected 25-member London Assembly with scrutiny powers...
  
   and its functional bodies
• the councils of local government areas in Scotland
• parish and community council
  Community council
  A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies...
  
  s
• the Council of the Isles of Scilly
• the Broads Authority
  Broads Authority
  The Broads Authority is the agency which has statutory responsibility for the Broads in England. Originally, the Nature Conservancy Council , pressed for a special authority to manage the Broads which had been neglected for a long time. In 1978, the forerunner to the present-day Broads Authority...
  
  
• integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executive
  Passenger Transport Executive
  In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas...
  
  s
• police authorities
  Police authority
  A police authority in the United Kingdom, is a body charged with securing efficient and effective policing of a police area served by a territorial police force or the area and/or activity policed by a special police force...
  
  
• fire and rescue authorities
• waste disposal authorities
  Waste disposal authority
  Waste disposal authorities were established in the UK following the Environmental Protection Act 1990. WDAs are in charge of the use of funds from Council Tax to facilitate the disposal of municipal waste. WDAs must manage waste which is collected by local councils. In the case of unitary...
  
  
• port health authorities
• other authorities in England, Wales or Scotland having power to levy council tax
  Council tax
  Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...
  
   or to issue a precept
  Precept
  A precept is a commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action.-Christianity:The term is encountered frequently in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; e.g.:...
  
  or levy

External links

• http://www.dmo.gov.uk/index.aspx?page=PWLB/Introduction