§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action she is taking to implement the NAO recommendation on the pursuit of cases where the Department believes it was overcharged for goods and services and the investigation and resolution of irregularities in contractors' claims. [65188]
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§ Mr. MorleyThe accounts of the principal contractors used by DEFRA during the FMD outbreak have been the subject of detailed examination. This has been an extensive exercise as the contractors concerned carried out work to the value of hundreds of millions of pounds involving the generation of tens of thousands of invoices. This work is on-going.
It has necessitated DEFRA obtaining legal advice from a number of external law firms as well as the establishment of invoicing panels and commercial teams staffed by forensic accountants and quantity surveyors, all of whom come from external professional firms.
It is on the recommendation of these panels and teams following examination of the accounts that further payments have been made by DEFRA to contractors and/or deductions have been sought from the contractors' invoiced sums. In many cases, the deductions have been substantial. The process is on-going.
Wide-ranging issues have arisen on the accounts. These include legal issues such as matters of contractual interpretation, forensic accountancy issues and evidential issues involving the assessment of both a large amount of documentation and proofing of witnesses.
Some of these disputes will inevitably result in court proceedings although DEFRA remains committed to resolving matters by mediation where appropriate. We will have no hesitation in taking whatever action is required to protect taxpayer interest in the light of forensic examination of the accounts of contractors.