Written question asked by Grant Shapps (Conservative) on Tuesday, 11 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 13 November 2008. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Wednesday, 19 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Council Tax: Fraud

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 30 October 2008, Official Report, column 1258W, on council tax, if she will place in the Library a copy of the Audit Commission guidance to local authority fraud investigators on how to follow up potential frauds and other anomalies.

Answer: The guidance issued by the Audit Commission on the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is limited to how to interpret and prioritise the data matches released through NFI. The Commission does not provide guidance on the investigation of the referrals. It is the responsibility of each participating body to investigate matches, where appropriate, in line with their own policies and procedures.As part of its continued development programme, the Commission has introduced online training tutorials for NFI 2008-09. This training material is integrated into the NFI web application and as such cannot be provided separately. Brief guidance notes to supplement the online material will be made available before the launch of the NFI 2008-09 results on 28 January 2009. A copy of those notes will then be placed in the Library.Copies of the Commission’s guidance material issued to participating bodies for NFI 2006-07 have been placed in the Library, although this material is now out of date.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 483 c505W; 235860
Session: 2007-08
Related items: Deposited Paper DEP2008-2796
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Deposited papers
House of Commons
Subjects: Council tax Fraud
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk