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Written question asked by Helen Whately (Conservative) on Thursday, 3 April 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 April 2025. It was answered by Georgia Gould (Labour) on Friday, 11 April 2025 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Public Sector: Fraud

Question

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the Public Sector Fraud Authority has applied to the county court for a recovery order for the assets of people found to have committed fraud in each of the last five years.

Answer

The Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) works with government departments and public bodies to understand and reduce the impact of fraud and error against the public sector. The PSFA is expected to surpass its 2024-25 target of recovering and preventing £250m of fraud - ensuring public money is out of the hands of fraudsters.

Since the Authority’s launch in 2022, the PSFA has started the pilot of the new Enforcement Unit for government, which began fraud investigations in May 2024.The Enforcement Unit is actively investigating cases of fraud, and will seek to use relevant civil powers to recover funds stolen by fraudsters. To date, the PSFA has not applied to any county court for a recovery order regarding the assets of people found to have committed fraud.

This government is taking tough action to reduce public sector fraud. In January, we introduced the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, giving us more tools to combat fraud, allowing government to investigate fraud, recover public money and sending fraudsters a clear message: you won’t get away with stealing public money.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
44008
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Fraud Public sector Public Sector Fraud Authority Recovery orders
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk