Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Accepted
By January 2022, DHSC had only investigated two fraud cases and so far had only...
Recommendation
By January 2022, DHSC had only investigated two fraud cases and so far had only recovered £1 million. We asked whether DHSC had published data on amounts recovered and it confirmed it had not, but agreed to provide this information to the Committee on an ongoing basis. We asked why it had not made a more vigorous attempt to challenge those seeking to commit fraud. DHSC told us that it would “continue to go after those cases where we can” but that some cases were difficult to pursue if the culprit was overseas. It also told us that in most cases the individual amounts at stake were small and it needed to keep in mind whether the cost of recovery was greater than the benefit to the taxpayer of doing so.39 35 Q 112; C&AG’s Report Figure 6 36 Qq 87–88 37 Qq 89, 96–97; C&AGs Report paras 2.34–2.35 38 Qq 89, 92–93 39 Qq 90, 94–95; C&AG’s Report para 2.35 Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic 17
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and UKHSA has already provided the Committee with a quarterly update on chargeback and hardship recoveries, and the next letter will be sent by the end of September with responses to the recommendations.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6: PAC conclusion: DHSC failed to adequately protect the taxpayer from fraud in the Managed Quarantine Service (MQS), and is not pursuing the fraud that it has identified vigorously enough. 6: PAC recommendation: DHSC should write to the Committee as part of its Treasury Minute response setting out: • how much of the fraud and unpaid MQS bills it has recovered, how much it has written off, and how it plans to recover the outstanding amount; • how much of the outstanding amount is due to fraud, unpaid hardship plans and other reasons; • how much of the debts arising from the hardship plan are owed by people who self-certified hardship; • how much it has spent collecting unpaid MQS bills; and • how many fraud cases it has identified, investigated and successfully prosecuted. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 The UK Health Security Agency has already provided the Committee with a quarterly update on chargeback and hardship recoveries. The next letter will be sent to the Committee by the end of September whch will include responses to the recommendations above.