Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by her Department in each of the last three financial years.

The government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. The government established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.

The PSFA produces a ‘Fraud Landscape Report’ This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023 and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2022. .

Information regarding the department’s detected fraud and error can be found in the department’s Annual Reports and Accounts which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.