Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value of fraudulent loans and grants recovered by the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce is since its inception.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
At Spring Budget 2021 the Government announced a £100 million investment into the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce. The taskforce was established to extend HMRC’s work to tackle fraud and error in the COVID support schemes that they administered (Self Employment Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and Eat Out to Help Out). The taskforce does not deliver compliance across schemes administered outside HMRC.
Anyone who keeps grant money despite knowing they were not entitled to it, faces having to repay up to double the amount they received, plus interest and potentially criminal prosecution.
HMRC identifies claims for compliance checks where the amount of the claim is out of step with other information. The risk that the claim is incorrect may be due to either an honest mistake or fraud, therefore, the value of recovered grants does not distinguish between error and fraud.
As of July 2022, the taskforce was made up of 1,155 full-time equivalent staff (FTE). The FTE will vary across the year. The resource commitment is proportionate to the number of high-risk claims made and the risks posed by error and fraud in the HMRC administered schemes.
The taskforce commenced activity from April 2021 and will build on the £536 million already recovered in 2020-21. Taskforce performance for 2021-22 is covered in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2021-22, which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022. This is in addition to the amounts that HMRC prevented from being paid out on incorrect claims.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full-time equivalent staff the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce employed as of 12 July 2022.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
At Spring Budget 2021 the Government announced a £100 million investment into the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce. The taskforce was established to extend HMRC’s work to tackle fraud and error in the COVID support schemes that they administered (Self Employment Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and Eat Out to Help Out). The taskforce does not deliver compliance across schemes administered outside HMRC.
Anyone who keeps grant money despite knowing they were not entitled to it, faces having to repay up to double the amount they received, plus interest and potentially criminal prosecution.
HMRC identifies claims for compliance checks where the amount of the claim is out of step with other information. The risk that the claim is incorrect may be due to either an honest mistake or fraud, therefore, the value of recovered grants does not distinguish between error and fraud.
As of July 2022, the taskforce was made up of 1,155 full-time equivalent staff (FTE). The FTE will vary across the year. The resource commitment is proportionate to the number of high-risk claims made and the risks posed by error and fraud in the HMRC administered schemes.
The taskforce commenced activity from April 2021 and will build on the £536 million already recovered in 2020-21. Taskforce performance for 2021-22 is covered in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2021-22, which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022. This is in addition to the amounts that HMRC prevented from being paid out on incorrect claims.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many compliance checks the HMRC Taxpayer Protection Taskforce has carried out as of July 2022.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC designed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), The Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme (EOTHO) to prevent fraud and error, both in the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself whilst making sure the grant payments reached claimants as quickly as possible. HMRC also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid, so they blocked those that were highly indicative of criminal activity.
Anyone who keeps grant money despite knowing they were not entitled to it, faces having to repay up to double the amount they received, plus interest and potentially criminal prosecution.
At Spring Budget 2021 the Government announced a £100m investment into the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce. The taskforce was established to extend HMRC’s work to tackle fraud and error in the COVID support schemes that they administered (CJRS, SEISS and EOTHO). The taskforce does not address compliance risks in schemes that have been administered outside HMRC.
Up to the end of March 2021, over 12,000 compliance checks had been carried out, this was prior to the formation of the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce.
Further information on the number of compliance checks carried out and taskforce performance for 21/22 is covered in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts (AR&A) for 21/22 and will be published before recess.
HMRC expects to publish its 2022-23 Annual Report & Accounts in Summer 2023.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when HMRC plans to publish its annual report and accounts for the financial year 2022-23.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC designed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), The Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme (EOTHO) to prevent fraud and error, both in the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself whilst making sure the grant payments reached claimants as quickly as possible. HMRC also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid, so they blocked those that were highly indicative of criminal activity.
Anyone who keeps grant money despite knowing they were not entitled to it, faces having to repay up to double the amount they received, plus interest and potentially criminal prosecution.
At Spring Budget 2021 the Government announced a £100m investment into the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce. The taskforce was established to extend HMRC’s work to tackle fraud and error in the COVID support schemes that they administered (CJRS, SEISS and EOTHO). The taskforce does not address compliance risks in schemes that have been administered outside HMRC.
Up to the end of March 2021, over 12,000 compliance checks had been carried out, this was prior to the formation of the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce.
Further information on the number of compliance checks carried out and taskforce performance for 21/22 is covered in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts (AR&A) for 21/22 and will be published before recess.
HMRC expects to publish its 2022-23 Annual Report & Accounts in Summer 2023.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of fraud and error in the welfare system.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our Fraud Plan, Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System, published 19 May 2022, sets out our plans for reducing the level of fraud and error in the welfare system by:
The full document can be found at Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The government is investing £1.4bn of funding over the next three years, to combat fraud and error.
We estimate this investment will stop over £2.0bn of loss in fraud and error during this time.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of prisoners who are released from prison reoffend, broken down by (a) offence and (b) ethnicity, including the proportion of offenders of each ethnicity.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government is tackling the causes of reoffending to make our streets safer. We are investing in probation services and new initiatives to reduce reoffending and beat crime.
The Prisons Strategy White Paper, published in December 2021, sets out our ambitious plans to reduce reoffending. We will spend £200 million a year by 2024/25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support and substance misuse treatment, and on further measures for early intervention to tackle youth offending. This builds on £70 million of investment in 2021 to tackle drivers of reoffending.
Our measures are working. Overall proven reoffending has decreased from 30.9% in 2009/10 to 25.6% in 2019/20. The reoffending rates for index offences of robbery, possession of weapons, criminal damage and arson, and sexual and drug offences have all fallen between 2009/10 and 2019/20.
The proportion of individuals (adults and juveniles) released from custody who subsequently went on to reoffend over a one-year follow-up period are presented in the table below. The figures are broken down by index offence and ethnicity.
Table 1: Overall proven reoffending data for offenders released from custody, by index offence and ethnicity, April 2019 to March 2020 annual offender cohort
Index offence | Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%) |
Violence against the person | 36.5% |
White | 38.4% |
Black | 29.2% |
Asian | 29.6% |
Other | 20.6% |
Not recorded | 24.0% |
Sexual | 10.9% |
White | 10.7% |
Black | 18.0% |
Asian | 9.0% |
Other | 14.7% |
Not recorded | 4.9% |
Robbery | 26.1% |
White | 26.3% |
Black | 26.1% |
Asian | 25.9% |
Other | * |
Not recorded | 20.9% |
Theft | 63.4% |
White | 63.8% |
Black | 64.5% |
Asian | 55.2% |
Other | 45.7% |
Not recorded | 56.3% |
Criminal damage and arson | 24.5% |
White | 24.4% |
Black | * |
Asian | * |
Other | * |
Not recorded | * |
Drug | 21.0% |
White | 21.0% |
Black | 22.8% |
Asian | 19.9% |
Other | 10.6% |
Not recorded | 13.2% |
Possession of weapons | 42.2% |
White | 43.5% |
Black | 39.9% |
Asian | 38.4% |
Other | 39.6% |
Not recorded | 32.0% |
Public order | 56.1% |
White | 57.3% |
Black | 51.7% |
Asian | 49.3% |
Other | * |
Not recorded | 47.1% |
Miscellaneous crimes against society | 27.9% |
White | 30.9% |
Black | 26.2% |
Asian | 18.4% |
Other | 6.8% |
Not recorded | 15.0% |
Fraud | 31.0% |
White | 35.5% |
Black | 25.7% |
Asian | 15.3% |
Other | * |
Not recorded | 7.2% |
Summary non-motoring | 56.9% |
White | 58.3% |
Black | 51.9% |
Asian | 46.7% |
Other | * |
Not recorded | 44.7% |
Summary motoring | 36.0% |
White | 37.9% |
Black | 30.1% |
Asian | 29.4% |
Other | * |
Not recorded | 20.0% |
Other | * |
White | * |
Black | * |
Asian | * |
Other | * |
Not recorded | * |
Total | 42.2% |
White | 44.6% |
Black | 36.3% |
Asian | 30.7% |
Other | 23.1% |
Not recorded | 28.3% |
Notes:
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure value for money in public spending.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Spending Review 2021 placed a renewed emphasis on ensuring that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent well and focused on the areas that make the most difference to people’s daily lives. The government set clear outcomes for what spending will buy; ensured that all decisions are informed by the best quality evidence; encouraged joint working between departments; and took further action to drive out low value or inefficient spend.
At the Spring Statement, the government also set out plans to tackle waste and inefficiency across the public sector through a comprehensive efficiency agenda. This includes a new Public Sector Fraud Authority that will tackle fraud and a further £12 million investment in HMRC to help prevent error and fraud in tax credits. Work on ensuring value for money is being driven by the Chancellor-chaired Committee on Efficiency and Value for Money.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle cybercrime against retailers; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Tackling cyber crime is at the heart of the Government’s National Cyber Strategy. The strategy was launched in December 2021 and presents the UK’s role as a responsible and democratic cyber power, protecting and promoting UK interests in, and through, cyberspace. The strategy commits £2.6bn of new investment to deliver objectives under five strategic pillars:- Ecosystem; Resilience; Technology; International; and, Threat.
The Cyber Aware campaign is a major national advertising campaign that aims to help businesses (as well as individuals) to protect themselves online. The campaign empowers and enables the public and micro businesses to understand the best ways to stay secure online and take the necessary protective actions; and supports wider efforts to combat the threat at source via the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERs), and through partnership interventions. This year’s campaign was launched on 18 March and is focusing on empowering citizens, microbusinesses and sole traders to keep their email accounts secure. Cyber Aware - NCSC.GOV.UK
The Governments’ Cyber Essentials Scheme provides the basic controls all businesses should implement to protect themselves. About Cyber Essentials - NCSC.GOV.UK
Further good advice and helpful products from Government include the 10 Steps to Cyber Security and the Cyber Information Sharing Partnership (CISP). 10 Steps to Cyber Security - NCSC.GOV.UK
We have also rolled out Regional Cyber Resilience Centres in each of the nine policing regions, and London. These are a collaboration between police, public, private sector and academic partners to provide subsidised or free products and cyber security consultancy services to help Small and Medium Sized Enterprise and micro businesses protect themselves better in a digital age.
We have developed and we continue to innovate on a series of Active Cyber Defence measures. Active Cyber Defence is the principle of implementing security measures to strengthen the security of a network or system to make it more robust against attack. The National Cyber Security Centre’s Active Cyber Defence programme provides tools that are free at the point of use which help organisations to tackle, in a relatively automated way, a significant proportion of the cyber attacks that hit the UK.
Retailers (and other organisations) suffering a live cyber attack (in progress), can report directly to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for cyber crime and fraud, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Action Fraud
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of fraud and error in the welfare system.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Fraud Plan, Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System published 19 May 2022, sets out our plans for reducing the level of fraud and error in the welfare system by:
The full document can be found on Welcome to GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
It sets out how we will invest £613m over the next three years in our frontline counter-fraud professionals and establish a brand-new team of trained specialists to conduct Targeted Case Reviews of Universal Credit claims, which will see us review 2 million cases over the next 5 years. This money represents a 75% increase in funding to combat fraud and error, taking our resourcing to £1.4bn over the next three years.
We estimate this investment will stop £2.0bn of loss in fraud and error during this time.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Government is taking to improve prosecution rates for (a) fraud and (b) other economic crime.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
In the last financial year, the Serious Fraud Office prosecuted two corporates, recovered over £45m in proceeds of crime and agreed three Deferred Prosecution Agreements. Between February 2022 and January 2023, the SFO has eight trials; 23 people have been charged with criminality worth over £550m.
The Law Officers meet regularly with senior officials at the Serious Fraud Office to discuss strategy and funding; through these meetings, as well as regular engagement between my Office and the Serious Fraud Office, I am confident that the organisation has the resource required for those trials.
The Government is committed to tackling fraud and economic crime, and the 10-year Fraud Strategy that will be published this year will set out plans to address the threat of fraud including the prosecution of fraudsters.
The majority of Serious Fraud Office cases already pass the ‘no case to answer’ stage. This is when the Judge rules that the prosecution’s evidence is sufficient, the trial will proceed to enable a jury to consider its verdict. It is not within the gift of the Serious Fraud Office, or the Government, to influence this.
In addition to the Fraud Strategy, the Serious Fraud Office received a funding uplift in the 2021 Spending Review, which included £4.4m over three years to invest in technology. This investment will complement the wider work that they are doing to reduce case lengths over the same period. This will have a positive impact on the SFO’s capacity to tackle serious economic crime.