§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what systems he has in place to ensure that policies being developed by his Department are subject to a crime impact(a) assessment and (b) audit and are not likely to lead to enhanced criminal opportunities. [72694]
§ Mr. Alan Howarth[holding answer 24 February 1999]: Departments co-operate on policy development and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State works closely with other Ministers in assessing any likely implications for crime of new developments, in support of the Home Office's aim to reduce crime and the fear of it.
The procedures for crime assessment and audit vary across the Department's responsibilities. Where a policy is assessed as carrying some risk, for example where grants are made to third parties, specific systems are in place. Relevant sponsored bodies such as the national museums and galleries, Historic Royal Palaces, and English Heritage have security systems to guard against theft and criminal damage and we expect our sponsored bodies to keep these systems under review, to ensure they are appropriately effective in developing circumstances. The Department and its sponsored bodies have fraud policies in place and the Department has developed a checklist of key controls to prevent, detect and investigate fraud and deal with its consequences. The Department is committed to producing an annual fraud return to the Treasury's timetable each year.
From this year onwards, Departmental and NDPB Accounting Officers will be required to prepare statements on the system of internal financial control which operates in their organisations, including risk management. In preparation for this, my Department is about to pilot Control and Risk Self Assessment (CRSA) techniques in a number of policy areas.
The National Lottery regulator also has systems to ensure that those associated with the running of the National Lottery are fit and proper for their role and to monitor the effectiveness of the operator's systems to guard against crime including fraud.