Government Departments and Agencies: Fraud and Error

The Oral Question session in the House of Commons focused on the cost to the public purse of fraud and error in government departments and agencies. Several Labour MPs, including Tom Rutland, Chris Vince, and Dr Rupa Huq, asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, for a recent estimate of this cost. In response, Pat McFadden acknowledged that the government's estimates vary widely, ranging from £40 billion to almost £60 billion. He stated that the public expects the government to minimize fraud in the use of public funds, which is why the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced the establishment of a COVID-19 corruption commissioner to track down and recover money lost to fraud during the pandemic. Tom Rutland followed up, highlighting the estimated £7.6 billion cost of COVID-19 contract fraud, with contracts awarded through a "VIP lane" to those with personal connections to ministers. Rutland asked how the Cabinet Office will work with the Treasury to support the new corruption commissioner and rectify this "egregious waste of public money." McFadden agreed that the VIP lanes and "dodgy contracts" during COVID-19 had resulted in billions of pounds being "burned through," sometimes for unusable equipment. He assured that the government will do everything it can to recover the lost money, with the Cabinet Office working closely with the corruption commissioner's office. Chris Vince then raised the potential for new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to tackle waste and error in the public sector. He noted the National Audit Office's claim that counter-fraud agencies are only just beginning to utilize these new tools. McFadden acknowledged the promise of AI in detecting and rooting out fraud, stating that the government wants the UK to be an excellent place for developing new AI applications, both in the public and private sectors. Dr Rupa Huq also highlighted the £58.5 billion in non-COVID-19 error, fraud, and waste in 2020-21 alone, and asked how these "colossal sums of money" will be recovered. She also inquired about the government's plans to address cronyism and nepotism. McFadden agreed that the scale of the problem is significant, and the amount recovered so far is relatively small. He stated that the government has a duty to take the issue seriously and use all available means to bear down on fraud. Finally, Wendy Chamberlain raised the issue of innocent errors where government systems fail to pick up overpayments, leading to the clawback of funds from carers. McFadden acknowledged this problem and stated that the government must balance the proper use of public funds with compassion for carers.