Recommendation 21

However, the PSFA also told us that there are instances where legislation, written some time ago, does not fully support the effective deployment of modern data analytics techniques. For example, the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 does not allow for profiling of individuals’ behaviours. Which means in practice that data collected under that Act can be used to look for or prevent fraud, but it cannot be used for ongoing live fraud investigations. It also does not allow the data to be used to flag individuals who have previously committed fraud to inform future counter- fraud work. The PSFA told us that, in other industries, it would be standard practice to use evidence that someone has committed fraud as an indicator that they may do so again.59