Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 24
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 while it may appear reasonable to extend the PSFA’s remit to also cover local government, there are different governance architectures across central and local government, and any change to the roles and responsibilities of the PSFA would entail “a very large increase” in the mandate of the PSFA and there are no plans to take such a course of action. HM Treasury brought to our attention a cost-sharing agreement that they had agreed with local authorities to provide them with £200 million for the administration of the schemes.76 HM Treasury agreed to engage with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ascertain what more government could do to support counter-fraud activities in local authorities.77
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".