Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the Public Sector Fraud Authority's most recent estimate of the value of fraud associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was only right that the Government and local authorities stepped up to support the country in unprecedented times during the pandemic – saving businesses and the jobs they create.

The Government is committed to transparency in its efforts to tackle fraud against the public sector. The UK is one of the few countries to estimate fraud and error within the public sector and to openly publish this estimate. The Government also continues to prioritise ongoing work to provide estimates of the value of detected and prevented fraud associated with the pandemic. In 2021, the Government recovered a total of £88m from fraud and error relating to COVID-19 support schemes.

The 2022 Fraud Landscape Report showed that in 2020/21, across government, detected fraud amounted to £54m within COVID-19 specific schemes.