§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the costs to public funds of(a) criminal damage and (b) embezzlement of public funds and investigations thereof in the latest year for which figures are available. [15245]
§ Mr. DenhamI have been asked to reply.
The most recent Home Office estimate of the economic and social cost of crime was published in a report in December 2000, "The economic and social cost of crime" (Home Office Research Study 217). This includes estimates of the costs to public funds of crime, as well as estimates of the costs to victims of crime. All figures mentioned here relate to costs in the 1999–2000 financial year.
The study estimates that criminal damage, both to private and public property, had a cost to public funds of £360 million in 1999–2000.
Home Office figures for fraud are based on the legislative definition of fraud; this includes all fraud and does not separate frauds committed against the public sector from other types of fraud.
However, a Home office commissioned study carried out by National Economic Research Associates (NERA) estimated that the cost of fraud committed against Government and the amount of public funds engaged in counter-fraud activity to be between £4 and £9 billion. These costs include the estimated value of fraud as well as expenditure on counter-fraud activity, but excluded Criminal Justice System (CJS) costs.
Estimated cost to public funds of public embezzlement £ million Low estimate High estimate Benefits Fraud 2,600 5,600 Civil Service employee fraud 2 2 Customs and Excise + VAT fraud 900 2,500 Local authorities 10 10 NHS fraud 7 150 Inland Revenue 50 400 Total Public Sector Fraud 4,000 9,000 Notes:
1. Totals may not sum due to rounding of figures.
2. Figures exclude any costs to the criminal justice system.
Source:
The Economic Cost of Fraud, NERA, 2000