Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, 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 the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from £13.4m in 2019/20 to £160.7m in 2020/21.

The Cross-Government Fraud Landscape: Annual Report 2022, published on 21 March 2023 does not mention Department for Business and Trade.

The Fraud Landscape Report figures were reported to the Public Sector Fraud Authority (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 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy detected error was £13.4m in 2019/20 as published in the Fraud Landscape Bulletin and increased to £160.7m in 2020/21 as published in the Fraud Landscape Report.