Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 4170 on Fraud: Coronavirus, what proportion of the recovered £88 million is designated as (a) fraud and (b) error.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The UK government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system and has invested over an extra £1bn in tackling fraud and error since Autumn 2021 across government. This includes the launch of the Public Sector Fraud Authority in August 2022 which builds on lessons learned in the management of fraud risk and loss in the pandemic.

The government’s ‘Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report 2022’ showed that at the end of March 2021 there had been £88.2m of fraud and error recovered within COVID-19 schemes (excluding HMRC-administered COVID-19 schemes and any fraud and error related to tax and welfare). Of this, £19.6m was reported by departments as fraud and £68.6m was reported as error. These figures only represent 2020-2021 data, since then, further funds have been recovered.

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 amount of fraud associated with the Covid-19 pandemic which has been recovered as of 28 November 2023.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The government continues to prioritise ongoing work to provide estimates of the value of detected and prevented fraud associated with the pandemic. The 2022 Fraud Landscape Report showed that in 2020/21, across government and outside of tax and welfare, the Fraud Landscape Report has reported £88m of recovered fraud and error related to COVID-19. However since then further funds have been recovered and further efforts to recover funds is ongoing. More uptodate figures will be published in due course.

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.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

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.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many fraud cases related to covid-19 are with the Crown Prosecution Service awaiting an outcome.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not have a central record showing the number of fraud cases relating to Covid-19 currently awaiting an outcome. To obtain the data would require manually reviewing CPS case records at disproportionate cost.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether protocols have been agreed with (a) his Department, (b) the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (c) the British Business Bank and (d) commercial lenders on taking steps to pursue fraud in the Government's covid-19 loan schemes.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government has always been clear that fraud within the Covid-19 loan schemes is unacceptable and that those who have defrauded the government may be subject to both criminal and commercial recovery efforts. We are taking action against those who defrauded the Schemes by working across Government, law enforcement, counter-fraud agencies, and commercial lenders.

Scheme rules, as well as subsequent guidance based on continued engagement with lenders, spell out lenders’ obligations in this regard. Under the Schemes there was a range of checks to minimise fraud upfront, and lenders continue to work closely with government agencies to identify and pursue fraud within the scheme, minimising losses to the taxpayer as far as possible. The BBB's audit programme evaluates the effectiveness of a range of lender processes and procedures. Where issues are identified the BBB can take remedial action with the lender.

As announced in the Spring Statement 2022, the Government is funding this continued counter-fraud action – with £13mn allocated to the National Investigation Service to double their investigative capacity on Bounce Back Loans and fund enforcement activity building on the Cabinet Office data analytics programme, as well as £11mn to the British Business Bank to boost their counter fraud and assurance programme.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many members of staff at the National Crime Agency are working full time on the recovery of public money lost to fraud and economic crime from the Government's emergency coronavirus support schemes.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The NCA do not comment on the number of current investigations by the Agency.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many ongoing investigations are underway at the National Crime Agency to recover public money lost to fraud and economic crime from the Government's coronavirus business support schemes.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The NCA do not comment on the number of current investigations by the Agency.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many members of staff at the Serious Fraud Office are working full time on the recovery of public money lost to fraud and economic crime from emergency covid-19 support schemes.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Although no investigations have been formally announced, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating a number of suspected fraudulent applications for COVID loans.

In order to protect the investigative process, it is not always possible, or even desirable, for investigative bodies such as the SFO to announce investigations prematurely, or provide any details of the matters under investigation. The SFO proactively publishes information about its cases on its website whenever it is appropriate

SFO investigations follow the evidence, and their focus or scope may change as an investigation advances. The number of staff working on a specific case will fluctuate throughout an investigation’s lifecycle and will depend on factors such as the complexity of the allegations being investigated, and intelligence gathered or provided.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many ongoing investigations are underway at the Serious Fraud Office to recover public money lost to fraud and economic crime from the emergency covid-19 support schemes.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Although no investigations have been formally announced, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating a number of suspected fraudulent applications for COVID loans.

In order to protect the investigative process, it is not always possible, or even desirable, for investigative bodies such as the SFO to announce investigations prematurely, or provide any details of the matters under investigation. The SFO proactively publishes information about its cases on its website whenever it is appropriate

SFO investigations follow the evidence, and their focus or scope may change as an investigation advances. The number of staff working on a specific case will fluctuate throughout an investigation’s lifecycle and will depend on factors such as the complexity of the allegations being investigated, and intelligence gathered or provided.

Found: Mar eisimpleir, chlò- bhuail an Scottish Sun an ceann-loidhne seo: “Qualification Fraud: Coronavirus

Found: For example, on the 14 January, 2021, the Scottish Sun ran a headline, “Qualification Fraud: Coronavirus