Audit exposes misuse of taxpayers’ millions
Parliament is told Ulster forced to foot bill for spending failings by Government departments
By David Gordon
21 June 2006
A top public spending watchdog today exposed multi-million pound failings in government departments and other official bodies in Northern Ireland.
Comptroller and Auditor General John Dowdall detailed a string of shortcomings with the use of taxpayers’ money in an annual accounts report to Parliament.
The most serious problems included a rising level of mistakes in the much-criticised Child Support Agency and poor controls over food industry grants.
Mr Dowdall, who heads the Northern Ireland Audit Office, issues an annual general report on the accounts of various government bodies here.
His document published today dealt with the financial year 2004/05.
÷ Key points included:
÷ Evidence of an “increasing level of errors” within the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency, the body that assesses and enforces payments by absent parents.
Mr Dowdall stated that the agency’s 2004/05 calculations of money owed to it involved errors totalling an estimated £4,927,900.
He commented that the body should be concerned by the indications of a “deterioration in performance”.
And he stated that the levels of errors in the Agency “continue to be unacceptable”.
÷ Fraud and error in the social security system here cost taxpayers an estimated £120.4m in 2004/05 - 3.3% of benefits expenditure.
÷ The risk of “undetected overspending” at Northern Ireland education boards still remains, in the wake of the recent high-profile cash crises at the Belfast and South Eastern boards.
÷ Substantial grants were handed out by the Department of Agriculture to the food processing industry without proper procedures being followed.
Applicants for such grants are required to follow procurement rules, such as tendering or obtaining quotations on proposed purchases.
Mr Dowdall today stated that in 2004/05 an estimated £3.3m of grant funding was awarded when there was “insufficient evidence of compliance with the required procurement procedures”.
He commented: “Procurement procedures such as quotations and tendering are an important control in the prevention of fraud and ensuring value for money and are a clearly stated condition for the payment of grant.”
— The Department for Social Development’s control over a £66.8m budget for community groups and urban development “is still not adequate”.
— Up to £10.3m is estimated to have been lost to the health service here in 2004/05 due to patients wrongly claiming exemption from eye test, dental and prescription charges.
