Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to reduce the cost of fraud in his Department in the last three financial years.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) recognises that the nature of the fraud threat it faces is constantly evolving and that our response must be equally as agile. The MoJ has been developing its Counter Fraud Centre of Expertise (CoEx) since 2019 and this team has a central governance and oversight role across the Department, including its Executive Agencies, Arm’s Length Bodies and core Functions.

The MoJ maintains a collaborative working relationship with the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) regarding Counter Fraud Functional Standards and performance, and contributes to PSFA thematic working groups, for example internal fraud risks.

The MoJ conducts regular internal reviews against Functional Standards across the Department and collaborates with teams to improve performance and raise awareness in terms of fraud risk assessment, fraud controls and fraud reporting.

The MoJ took part in the 2022 National Fraud Initiative that looked to identify duplicated payroll data held across other public and private sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud.

The MoJ provides management information and updates to the Department Audit and Risk Committee.

The MoJ has always had a current Counter Fraud Strategy, Policy and Response Plan in place, all of which are readily accessible on the respective Intranet sites.