Whore you going to call Fraudbusters

18 May 00
The government this week stepped up its hard-hitting approach to fraud detection and prevention across the public sector, launching an anti-fraud forum and exhorting managers to commit themselves to a joined-up approach to prevention.

19 May 2000

Speaking at the launch of a Better Governance and Counter Fraud Forum on May 17, health minister John Denham called on the public sector to sign up to a Counter-Fraud Charter to clamp down on the millions of pounds lost each year to fraudsters.

The forum, launched jointly by CIPFA and the Department of Health, is not limited to the health service and is targeted across the public sector.

Stressing the government's tough credentials on tracking down dishonesty, Denham said the public sector had to work together, sharing good practice and minimising opportunities for fraud: 'Every pound lost to fraud has an increasingly corrosive effect on public attitudes and tolerance of the fraudster, encouraging others to indulge in fraud themselves.'

Citing the success of fraud partnerships, Denham said: 'The main defence is to remove the opportunity for fraud by creating a climate in which it is not tolerated; in which it will wither and die. To do that we need to work in partnership. It is a partnership that works by joining operational, policy and clinical expertise.'

The Department of Health's own counter-fraud directorate, headed by Jim Gee, has had some success in fraud prevention since it was set up in 1998. As well as measuring the levels of fraud across the health service, Gee has been training a team of fraudbusters to work in health authorities and trusts to eliminate fraud.

In the first targeted approach to prevention, Gee has calculated how much money is actually lost to fraud. With evangelical zeal, he wants the rest of the public sector to adopt a common strategy.

Later this year, the Department of Health will publish details of its risk measurement work and its vulnerability to fraud.

Gee said it was time the public sector stopped merely trying to keep fraud 'under control'. He said: 'While we will never eradicate it, we can reduce it to an absolute minimum and we owe it to the public to try to do so.'

PFmay2000

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top