This submission first examines two key areas of government activity that are particularly vulnerable to fraud and corruption: government-backed loan schemes and public procurement. It highlights lessons the government should learn from pandemic loan schemes, which were severely affected by fraud, and examines shortcomings in the UK’s public procurement regime, both in how it debars and excludes rogue companies from public contracts, as well as how conflicts of interest are prevented and managed. The submission then looks at two key issues in the overall framework for tackling fraud and corruption against the public purse: the legislative framework and the resourcing of law enforcement to tackle fraud and corruption, so that those who defraud the public purse can be brought to justice, and resources recovered.
Javad Marandi, an international businessman and major donor to the Conservative Party, can nowbe named as someone found to be “a person of importance” in a court case about the...
Javad Marandi, an international businessman and major donor to the Conservative Party, can now be named as someone found to be “a person of importance” in a court case about...
Donations to political parties are essential to the functioning of our political process under the current system, but after a series of scandals and warnings from independent review bodies and...
Today’s rejection by the House of Commons of a key amendment to the National Security Bill leaves the forthcoming UK general election desperately vulnerable to interference by hostile states, kleptocrats...
The latest version of the list of ministers’ interests reveals a total of 10 ministers, including the Prime Minister, have in place (or are in the process of setting up)...
As recognised by the OECD in 2003 guidance on managing conflicts of interest, blind trusts are a widely used tool to help politicians balance the responsibilities of public office without...
Five months ago, on the steps of Downing Street, new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to lead a government with “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.” That pledge represented...
