Recommendation 21

The Department told us it had included numbers in its Annual Report and Accounts for the savings from its efforts to reduce fraud and error. The Department’s 2021–22 Annual Report included an estimate for the impact of its activities to reduce fraud and error of £2 billion for 2021–22, but notes that this estimate is built up from a wide range of management information and modelling assumptions. The NAO reported that this savings estimate is experimental and requires further development before it can provide an appropriate framework for reporting the amount saved for the taxpayer and the cost- effectiveness of the Department’s activities. The Department told us that it will continue to develop “better, stronger metrics” to demonstrate the effectiveness of its counter-fraud activities.40 Transparency around the future use of data analytics in fraud prevention