Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 11
Sixty-Ninth Report - Tackling fraud and corruption against government
Published 8 Sep 2023
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Tackling fraud and corruption against government All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
HM Treasury told us that to improve government’s fraud measurement capability, the number of fraud measurement experts will be doubling from 99 to about 180 across government.31 PSFA told us that it would not advocate departments to conduct fraud measurement exercises in all the areas where there are currently gaps because that would be too expensive and complicated.32 For example, DWP and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) spend £22 million each year on measuring fraud and error in the welfare and tax systems.33 PSFA told us that it will mainly focus its efforts on fraud risk assessments and outcomes from counter-fraud work to prevent and detect fraud.34 We asked PSFA about the conflation of fraud and error, and what plans, if any, it had to separate them as they are different concepts with different public perceptions. PSFA explained that differentiating between fraud and error requires an assessment of intent, which is not always practical to undertake in large scale fraud measurement exercises. It told us that when public bodies have “established vulnerabilities, the response that we may use would not look just at error or fraud” because both often require the same preventive approach.35 Professionalisation of government’s counter-fraud workforce
From: Public Accounts Committee, Sixty-Ninth Report - Tackling fraud and corruption against government (HC 1230), 8 September 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 November 2023 (deadline 8 November 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on tackling fraud and corruption against government, but disagrees with the recommendation for a separate annual strategic intelligence report.
- On a strategic intelligence report, the government disagrees. The PSFA "will not publish a separate strategic intelligence report", and says it will not publish information that could increase the fraud threat by showing how attacks could be executed.
- It will continue to publish annual Fraud Landscape Reports and bulletins. It says separating fraud from error requires determining intent, which is "cost intensive", so this is left to the discretion of individual departments.
- The government agrees the PSFA should update the Committee in 12 months on the outcome of the next Workforce and Performance Review, with a target implementation date of September 2024.
- On a cross-government communications strategy, the government agrees, with a target implementation date of June 2024. A working group "will develop and maintain a cross-government communications plan".