Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many audits the Public Sector Fraud Authority has undertaken into the National Investigation Service; what the purpose of these audits was; what methods were used during these audits; what the risks identified during these audits were; and how long each of these audits took.

On 12 October 2023, the Public Sector Fraud Authority were requested to undertake a formal operational review of National Investigation Service, with a primary purpose to focus on performance. The review team included experts from the National Crime Agency, Serious Fraud Office, HM Revenue and Customs, Government Internal Audit Agency, and NHS Counter Fraud Authority.

The review report was provided to DBT on 17 November 2023 and made recommendations to prevent future risk of secondments lapsing and appropriate governance.

There have been no other formal audits or reviews undertaken by the Public Sector Fraud Authority into National Investigation Service.