Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many payments were fraudulently charged to the budgets of (a) his Department and (b) Downing Street using electronic purchasing cards in the financial years (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21 and (iii) 2021-22; and what was the total value of fraudulent payments (A) made and (B) recovered in each of those years.

For the purposes of reporting Cabinet Office and Downing Street are the same entity so separate figures cannot be provided.

It is cardholders and their line managers duty to check all ePCS transactions promptly and notify the bank of any fraudulent activity. The total value of fraud reported through the use of purchasing cards is as below.