§ Mr. SpringTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on combating fraud and waste in the EU' s budget following the Court of Auditors report of 12 November. [17384]
§ Ruth KellyThe Government's policies and actions taken to combat fraud and waste are set out in the latest White Paper on European Community Finances which was published in July. The Government are considering carefully the European Court of Auditor's (ECA) report and will send their detailed comments to the Commission by 20 December as part of the normal follow-up procedure, ensuring that both Houses receive an advance copy. Any amount of fraud or waste in the EC budget is unacceptable. That is why the Government are a strong supporter of Commission reform and why they advocated the creation of the new anti-fraud office, OLAF. It is important to note however, that the irregularities reported by the ECA are not all fraud and waste; the majority are small administrative errors which are corrected at a later date.