Recommendation 12

Having sampled only 476 grants distributed by local authorities out of circa one million grants made, the Department therefore has very little visibility of which businesses have benefited from these schemes.45 It cannot say whether many businesses in receipt of grants were eligible, and whether those that were both eligible and received grant funding received the right amount. The very limited assessment it has already done suggests ineligible businesses receiving grant funding, and some eligible businesses received a value of grant funding they were ineligible for. Neither furthers the policy objectives of these schemes, to support those businesses most in need, and the taxpayer also loses value for money. Using tools to prevent and detect fraud