§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many members of non-departmental public bodies have been found guilty of fraud offences in each of the last three years. [4949]
§ Mr. DarlingThis information is not collected centrally. The arrangements for fraud reporting, which are described in Chapter 37 ofGovernment Accounting, do not require non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) to report frauds to the Treasury. Rather, they report to sponsoring Departments, which are asked to tell the Treasury only of any novel or usual frauds occurring in NDPBs. This approach, which was adopted some years ago, was part of an effort to encourage sponsoring departments to take closer and more direct responsibility for the oversight of NDPBs.