GovWire

The Government consultation on extending the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) to assist with four purposes in addition to fraud - the prevention and detection of errors and inaccuracies; recovery of debt owed to public bodies; the apprehension and prosecution of offenders; and the prevention and detection of crime - received a comprehensive response.

The views of respondents on the proposals were mixed. Many recognised the benefits of extending data matching generally and the data matching service of the NFI to new areas. However, many raised concerns, particularly around how extension would be operationalised and how individuals personal data would be managed.

The Government response sets out our intention to not proceed with extending the NFI to new purposes at this stage. In line with the Governments commitment to doing more to prevent and detect fraud, the Government will retain the focus of the NFI on preventing and detecting fraud, supporting bodies in enhancing their fraud response through the use of data and analytics and through the creation of the new Public Sector Fraud Authority.

Feedback to the consultation will be used to inform the future development of the NFI, supplementing wider engagement activities. The Cabinet Office will continue to work closely with interested parties on the future direction of the NFI and new purposes and welcomes ongoing feedback.

Detail of feedback received

Almost 400 responses were provided to the Government consultation.

This was made up of 197 individuals, six special interest groups, 162 public sector organisations and 15 private sector organisations. There were 13 anonymous responses.