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
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
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 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what subscriptions to (a) newspapers, (b) magazines and (c) online journals his Department has paid for in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The following is a combined list of subscriptions that the Defra Library and Communications have paid for over the last three financial years. Some are in print and some are online. Not everything on the list was purchased in all three years – subscriptions change on demand and to reflect usage. Information on any subscriptions from other team budgets is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Defra Library purchases magazines and journals for Defra, Animal and Plant Health Agency and Natural England staff to support them in their role. The Communications team purchases newspapers for monitoring the media coverage of issues in Defra’s remit.
Angling Times magazine | Environmental Finance | Lyell Collection |
Animal Health Research Reviews | Estates Gazette | Materials Recycling World |
Argus Fertilizer Europe | Ethical Consumer | Microbiology Society |
Avian Pathology | Executive Support magazine | New Zealand Veterinary |
BioOne | Farmers Guardian | Planning Resource |
Bird Study Pack | Farmers Weekly | Privacy and Data Protection |
Bloomberg | Financial Times | Professional Update |
British Archaeology magazine | Fishing News Weekly | Responsible Investor |
British Poultry Science | Freedom of Information Journal | Royal Forestry Society |
British Wildlife Magazine | Fresh Produce | Sunday Times |
Conservation Land Management | Geoheritage | Telegraph |
Daily Express | Goat Veterinary Journal | The Economist |
Daily Mail | Guardian | The Grocer Magazine |
Daily Mirror | Habitats Regulations Assessment | The Sun |
Daily Telegraph | Harvard Business Review | The Times |
Dairy Industry Newsletter | Horticulture Week | UK Livestock magazine |
Dods People and Monitoring | I | Veterinary Pathology |
Econlit | ICES Journal of Marine Science | Washington Trade Daily |
Elsevier Freedom Collection | iNews | Water Report |
Ends Europe | Inside Housing | Wiley STM Collection |
Ends Report | Insurance Post | Yorkshire Post |
Ends Waste & Bioenergy | Nature.com |
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Environment Complete | Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation |
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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, on how many occasions Ministers from his Department have visited (a) Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Across the UK Government we are committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for all citizens, no matter where in the country they call home. All citizens contribute to the strength of the United Kingdom which is the most successful political and economic union the world has ever seen.
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 the total cost to the public purse was of legal (a) support and (b) representation to Ministers in his Department in relation to their official conduct in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Such information is not centrally recorded or collated in the form requested. More generally, I would refer the hon. Member to the long-standing policies on legal expenditure, as set out recently by Cabinet Office Ministers on 12 March 2004, Official Report, PQ 17709 and 12 March 2024, Official Report, House of Lords, Cols. 1901-1904.
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, with reference to the report entitled Cross-Government Fraud Landscape: Annual Report 2022, published on 21 March 2023, what the basis is of the increase in detected error in his Department rom £9.5m in 2019-20 to £15.9m in 2020-21.
Answered by Mark Spencer
In reference to the hon. Member’s question, the Fraud Landscape Report figures were reported to the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA, formerly the Counter Fraud Centre of Expertise) as part of established reporting cycles.
The Government defines error as losses arising from unintentional events, processing errors and official Government errors - such losses are judged as without fraudulent intent.
Since 2014, Fraud Landscape Reports show an increase in both detected fraud and error across government. This is in line with the Government's explicit objective to find more fraud in the system. By detecting more, we can understand fraud better - and deal with it better.
The Defra detected error in 2019/20 was published in the Fraud Landscape Bulletin and in 2020/21 was published in the Fraud Landscape Report. The reasons for any increase are set out in these documents as well as in our Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22.
The PSFA assists ministerial departments and public bodies in their delivery of specialist fraud activity. In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
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 estimate he has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by his Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. We have established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
The PSFA produces a Fraud Landscape Report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2022). This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023.
Information on detected fraud and error can be found in Defra’s Annual Report and Accounts. The Annual Report and Accounts 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, to which domestic destinations Ministers in his Department have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (vias, accommodation, meals).
But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.
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 reports and guidance their Department has produced in the last three financial years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Reports and guidance that the department has published can be found on 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 guidance his Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Mark Spencer
All departments in central government, including arm’s lengths bodies, apply the published guidance: Non-corporate communication channels (e.g. WhatsApp, private email, SMS) for government business published by Cabinet Office in March 2023. It applies to all individuals in central government (ministers, special advisers, officials, contractors, non-executive board members and independent experts advising ministers). Defra uses the central guidance and has applied it since March 2023.