National Fraud Initiative
The Council must protect the public funds it administers and may use creditor payment information for the prevention and detection of fraud. It may also share this information with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds for these purposes. The Cabinet Office appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this Council.
The Cabinet Office is also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises. This involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match; this is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation.
The council take part in the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative, a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. The council must provide sets of data to the Minister for the Cabinet Office for matching for each exercise. The use of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 2018.
Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice:
GOV.UK provides further information about: Cabinet Office’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information
Data matching at this authority
For further information on data matching at this authority visit: