Fraud in Whitehall soars

Frauds in Whitehall departments have risen 60 per cent, according to official figures released yesterday, writes Chris Blackhurst.

Sir George Young, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said that in 1989- 90 there were 221 cases of reported fraud and suspected fraud by Civil Service staff. By last year, that figure had risen to 352. These statistics do not include quangos.

The figures, given in a Parliamentary answer to Alan Milburn MP, follow evidence to the Nolan committee on standards in public life by David Veness, assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard. He said there were 31 known cases of public-sector fraud in London last year and 100 in the country. Using a standard multiplier, it was safe to assume that the real public sector tally was 10 times that, or 1,000 cases last year.