Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the costs of fraud in his Department in the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is determined to uncover fraud in the public sector and is proud of its record. As part of this, the Government established the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In 22/23 the PSFA set a target of delivering £180m of savings to the taxpayer. In fact, the PSFA far surpassed this within the first 12 months by preventing and recovering £311 million.
As it enters its second year, the PSFA has a target of achieving £185 million of savings for the taxpayer. The Government has also announced an additional £34 million to deploy cutting edge tools and Artificial Intelligence tools to help combat fraud across the public sector, saving £100 million for the public purse. This is in addition to existing partnerships between PSFA and the tech sector.
Defra's headline response to countering fraud is set out in the Governance Statement of the Annual Report and Accounts. The Annual Report and Accounts for Defra for the past three years may be accessed here:
Defra Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Defra Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Defra Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the costs of error in the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Figures used in the cross-Government Fraud Landscape Report show the level of detected error across the group including arm’s length bodies. The figures for 2021-22 and 2022-23 may be found in the following reports: Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 and Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23.
Steps we have taken are detailed in the annual report and accounts. These include creation of a dedicated grants hub with counter fraud expertise, fraud risk assessments, prepayment checks allowing correction of errors prior to payment, audits of both the control environment and delivery bodies’ counter fraud capability, external assurance, as well as governance forums which routinely consider the risk of fraud and error at both design and delivery stages.
The Government reports a combined fraud and error rate as it is difficult to disaggregate between the two, is cost intensive and may not be the most effective use of limited department resources. The choice is therefore left to the discretion of individual departments.
When found, error would be defined as losses arising from unintentional events, processing errors and official government errors.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of civil service roles in the Commercial and Procurement Profession are vacant as of 28 March 2024.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Commercial Organisation, is the employer of senior commercial professionals (at Grade 7 and above) within the Government Commercial Function. There are currently 101 vacancies within the Government Commercial Organisation against a budgeted headcount of 1649. This vacancy rate of 6.1% is similar to the 2023 Civil Service vacancy rate of 6.2%.