National Fraud Initiative
Wakefield Council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud. The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this authority.
The Serious Crime Act 2007 gave the Audit Commission new statutory powers to conduct data matching exercises by inserting a new Part 2A into the Audit Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body. This is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it indicates that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.
The Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in national data matching exercises to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are therefore required by law to provide requested sets of data to the Audit Commission in accordance with a list of instructions, which can be found at:
The legislation also requires that the Audit Commission prepare a code of practice to govern its data matching exercises, and to consult with the Information Commissioner and others over it before approving and laying it before Parliament. The Code of Data Matching Practice was published and laid before Parliament on 21 July 2008 and replaced the previous Code published by the Commission in 2006. A copy of the Code can be found at:
