Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Current legislation limits government’s ability to deploy data analytics to tackle fraud and error.
Recommendation
Current legislation limits government’s ability to deploy data analytics to tackle fraud and error. Some existing legislation, such as the Digital Economy Act, support the use of data analytics to fight fraud and error by enabling data sharing across departments. However, there are also instances where legislation, written some time ago, does not fully support the effective deployment of modern data analytics techniques. For instance, the Local Audit and Accountability Act, introduced in 2014, does not allow for profiling of individuals’ behaviours. In practice, this means that it does not allow government to flag individuals who have committed fraud 6 before as an indicator for future fraud detection work, as would be done in other industries. Moreover, the data collected as part of the National Fraud Initiative, enabled by the Act, can only be retained for two years. This limits the ability to look at historical fraud trends and the range of data that can be used when trying to identify fraud. recommendation a. The Public Sector Fraud Authority should review the legislation impacting its ability to implement fraud and error data analytics and communicate to Parliament where it believes additional powers or other changes to legislation would be helpful. b. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Public Sector Fraud Authority should review the regulatory regime around government’s fraud and error activities and communicate to Parliament where they believe additional powers or other changes to legislation would improve controls for specific fraud and error risks. 7 1 Taking the opportunity to make fraud and error savings Introduction
Government Response
Response Pending
HM Government
Response Pending
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. and the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014), or future legislation impacts government's ability to implement counter fraud and error data analytics, and communicate its assessment to the Committee. This assessment will also be used as the basis for a government decision on additional legislation. This review will be informed by the requirements of counter fraud teams across government, as well as an understanding of the legislative approaches undertaken internationally through the International Public Sector Fraud Forum (IPSFF). The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation regime impacts the use of controls for specific fraud and error risks and share its findings with the Committee. This review will be done in alignment with the wider review of using legislation to enable data analytics to tackle fraud. This review will include an evaluation assessment of how the current regulatory framework operates and, as a result, assess the extent to which additional powers, or amendments to existing legislation, would improve the framework. Treasury Minutes Archive1 Treasury Minutes are the Government’s response to reports from the Committee of Public Accounts. Treasury Minutes are Command Papers laid in Parliament. Session 2024-26 Committee Recommendations: 613 Recommendations agreed: 569 (93%) Recommendations disagreed: 44 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number April 2025 Government response to PAC reports 1-4, 6-9 CP 1306 May 2025 Government response to PAC reports 5,10-17 CP 1328 June 2025 Government response to PAC reports 18-22 CP 1341 July 2025 Government response to PAC reports 23-26 CP 1367 August 2025 Government response to PAC reports 27-34 CP 1382 September 2025 Government response to PAC reports 35-42 CP 1404 December 2025 Government response to PAC reports 43-46 48 and 49 CP 1469 January 2026 Government response to PAC reports 50-55 (and 56 BBC) CP 1488 March 2026 Government response to PAC reports 57-61 CP 1533 April 2026 Government response to PAC reports 62-67 CP 1522 May 2026 Government response to PAC reports 68-75 CP 1587 Session 2023-24 Committee Recommendations: 271 Recommendations agreed: 252 (93%) Recommendations disagreed: 19 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number February 2024 Government response to PAC reports 1-6 [80 Session 22-23] CP 1029 March 2024 Government response to PAC reports 7-11 CP 1057 April 2024 Government response to PAC reports 12-18 CP 1070 May 2024 Government response to PAC reports 19-24 CP 1085 September 2024 Government response to PAC reports 26-29, 31, 33-38 CP 1151 October 2024 Government response to PAC reports 25, 26, 30 and 32 CP 1174 Session 2022-23 Committee Recommendations: 551 Recommendations agreed: 489 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 62 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 1, 3 & 10 CP 722 August 2022 Government response to PAC reports 2, 4-8 CP 708 September 2022 Government response to PAC reports 9, 13-16 CP 745 November 2022 Government response to PAC reports 11, 12, 17 CP 755 1 List of Treasury Minutes responses for Sessions 2010-15 are annexed in the government’s response to PAC Report 52 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number December 2022 Government response to PAC reports 18-22 CP 774 January 2023 Government response to PAC reports 23-26 CP 781 February 2023 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 802 March 2023 Government response to PAC reports 32-36 CP 828 May 2023 Government response to PAC reports 37-41 CP 845 June 2023 Government response to PAC reports 42-47 CP 847 July 2023 Government response to PAC reports 48-54 CP 902 August 2023 Government response to PAC reports 55-60 CP 921 September 2023 Government response to PAC reports 62-67 CP 941 November 2023 Government response to PAC reports 68-71 CP 968 January 2024 Government response to PAC reports 72-79 CP 1000 February 2024 Government response to PAC reports 80 [1-6 Session 23-24] CP 1029 Session 2021-22 Committee Recommendations: 362 Recommendations agreed: 333 (92%) Recommendations disagreed: 29 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number August 2021 Government response to PAC reports 1-6 CP 510 September 2021 Government response to PAC reports 8-11 CP 520 November 2021 Government response to PAC reports 7,13-16 (and TM2 BBC) CP 550 December 2021 Government response to PAC reports 12, 17-21 CP 583 January 2022 Government response to PAC reports 22-26 CP 603 February 2022 Government response to PAC reports 27-31 CP 631 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 32-35 CP 649 April 2022 Government response to PAC reports 36-42 CP 667 July 2022 Government response to PAC reports 49-52 CP 722 Session 2019-21 Committee Recommendations: 233 Recommendations agreed: 208 (89%) Recommendations disagreed: 25 Publication Date PAC Reports Ref Number July 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 1-6 CP 270 September 2020 Government responses to PAC reports 7-13 CP 291 Novem