Public Sector Fraud Authority Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Lord Cromwell
Main Page: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Cromwell's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(4 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I could not possibly comment on that. What I can say is that public sector fraud wastes public money, drives up the deficit and damages the public sector. We are clear that we want to tackle it, and put structures in place to do this. My noble friend is correct, however, that it is not just public sector fraud that affects the public, and we are determined to do whatever we can to keep the public and the public finances as safe as possible from fraud and error.
Lord Cromwell (CB)
My Lords, these interventions are all very commendable, but are the Government going to get behind the idea of letting those agencies fighting fraud on our behalf retain more of the money they recover so that they can exponentially increase their effectiveness?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
That is a really interesting proposal. I understand from my amazing noble friend Lady Anderson that a number of trials are under way. I am very happy to meet the noble Lord to discuss this, having offered letters to other people—obviously, I am happy to meet any noble Lord at any point.