Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2016 to Question 46379, how many instances of fraud have been identified by her Department’s Counter Fraud Section in relation to UK aid spending in each of the last three years; and in which areas of her Department’s spending such instances occurred.

Rory Stewart

The counter fraud section of DFID’s Internal Audit Department is responsible for managing all internal and external referrals on crime, corruption and fraud. The majority of reports are raised through our confidential hotline or through our dedicated e-mail account. Both of these access points are clearly referenced on DFID’s external website.

Our case numbers have increased in recent years. We believe this is as a result of the proactive approach we have taken on fraud awareness and counter fraud activities. Our staff and partners are now much clearer on the action to be taken to report concerns as soon as they arise.

In FY13-14 there were 6 cases of proven fraud across 4 of our central departments. There were 51 cases of proven fraud across 18 of our country offices.

In FY14-15 there were 33 cases of proven fraud across 9 of our central departments. There were 39 cases of proven fraud across 17 of our country offices.

In FY15-16 there were 28 cases of proven fraud across 11 of our central departments. There were 60 cases of proven fraud across 20 of our country offices.