Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to recover funding awarded fraudulently through the Government's pandemic support schemes.

Our Covid-19 interventions helped millions of people and businesses through the worst effects of the pandemic. The Government prioritised getting money to those who needed it, with the schemes designed to minimise fraud while not unnecessarily delaying payments.

The Government has created the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA), with £24.7 million of new funding in the current SR period to support public bodies and departments to better understand and reduce the impact of fraud.

The Government also invested over £100 million over two years in the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to combat fraud in the HMRC support schemes. Up to the end of September, HMRC has recovered overpayments or prevented payments being made of claims worth over £1.6 billion. HMRC is still committed to the recovery of Covid-19 support scheme error and fraud.

The Government is also committed to bearing down on fraud in the Covid Loan Schemes. £13.2 million has been allocated to the National Investigation Service over three years to double their investigative capacity on Bounce Back Loans and fund enforcement activity. £10.9 million has been allocated to the British Business Bank over three years to boost their counter fraud and assurance programme.