Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the costs of error in the last three financial years.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Details of measures the department is taking to prevent fraud and error are set out in the department’s annual accounts.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the costs of fraud in his Department in the last three financial years.
Answered by Simon Hoare
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 £180 million 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.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 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 Felicity Buchan
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 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 Simon Hoare
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 2024, 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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to pages 31 and 32 of the report entitled Cross-Government Fraud Landscape: Annual Report 2022, published on 21 March 2023, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in detected error in his Department from £0.0m in 2019-20 to £0.2m in 2020-21.
Answered by Simon Hoare
In reference to your question, the Fraud Landscape Report figures were reported to the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) 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 Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities 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. 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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to which domestic destinations Ministers in his Department have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Simon Hoare
I refer the Rt Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 17349 on 11 March 2024.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 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 Simon Hoare
The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud and error 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. This report focuses on the public sector fraud landscape in central government, and the levels of fraud and error loss outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023.
Incidences of fraud and error are reported to the PSFA for inclusion in the Fraud Landscape Report and published in the department’s annual account at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64b93176ef5371000d7aef8d/DLUHC_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2022-23.pdf.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many domestic overnight visits Ministers within his Department have taken in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.
Answered by Simon Hoare
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Simon Hoare
There is published guidance available here: Using non-corporate communication channels (e.g. WhatsApp, private email, SMS) for government business.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 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 Simon Hoare
The requested information is not centrally held.