Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Second sitting)

Debate between Georgia Gould and Michael Payne

Committee stage
Tuesday 25th February 2025 Public Bill Committees

[Michael Payne]

Q Throughout the previous witness sessions, there have been questions about concerns with respect to training for PSFA enforcement officers. I wondered whether you wanted to say anything more than you have already to the Committee about training for enforcement officers.

Mark Cheeseman: I will come back to what I said about the counter-fraud profession. We are one of the only countries in the world with professional standards published. Those are used by the police, the Serious Fraud Office and HMRC. They use these types of powers successfully on a regular basis. We would have exactly the same standard of investigator—both by bringing them in and by training them up to those standards—who would use these powers if and when they are in place.

[Georgia Gould]

Q I want to build on the earlier line of questioning about Ministers’ sign-off. My under-standing is that the powers will be delegated to authorised officers and there will be no ministerial sign-off on any part of the investigation. That will rightly be separate. I think it would be helpful if you could clarify how that will work in practice.

Mark Cheeseman: Yes. Apologies—that was a slip when I answered earlier. Yes, the powers of the Minister—it is written as “the Minister” in the Bill—are delegated to authorised officers, who sit in the PSFA. They would be qualified to the standards of the profession, and they would be taking the decision. What I was referring to earlier is that any review decision, if someone asked for a review, would be taken by a separate authorised officer. There are a number of provisions in the Bill to enable people within the process to make an information-gathering request or to ask for something else to be reviewed.