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Written question asked by Lord Prescott (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Hanham (Conservative) on Tuesday, 17 January 2012.

Government Departments: Procurement

Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action was taken by the Department for Communities and Local Government when it discovered that in the period 2004-06 the departmental government procurement card for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister had been cloned, resulting in charges from seven transactions totalling £2,000; and when the money was recovered.
Answer

Departmental practice is for the card holder to check statements against usage and report any anomalies to the card issuing company. Under the terms of the contract with the issuing bank any financial loss arising from external fraud (such as cloned cards) was the responsibility of the card-issuing company that took forward any investigation. Consequently there would be no liability to departmental funds. This process appears to have been followed and the seven transactions totalling £2,000 were fully recovered during the same financial year. However, for the avoidance of doubt, we have no evidence that spending in this period at venues such as the Star City Casino, Doyles Seafood Restaurant in Sydney and at Sydney Aquarium, all of which were associated with the visit of the then Deputy Prime Minister (the noble Lord), were cloned transactions. Ministers in this Administration do not believe that such transactions represent value for money for the taxpayer. It is clear to Ministers, from examining government procurement card spending across the department, that there was unnecessary expenditure. This criticism was reflected in Sir Philip Green's efficiency review in October 2010, which noted: ““Procurement cards do not allow Government to control or monitor spend efficiently””. I believe that greater transparency on past and present transactions will help prevent the overuse and misuse of the government procurement card in the future. This is why, as I said in a Written Answer to the noble Lord on 12 January (WA 107-8), my department has published detailed information on all transactions made using these corporate cards from April 2004 to October 2011, in response to a series of parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests, and has taken a series of steps to reduce unnecessary spending.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
14529; 734 c122-3WA
Session
2010-12
Related items
Government Departments: Procurement
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects
Fraud Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Electronic purchasing card solution
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk