Fraud and Irregularities

National Fraud Initiative (NFI)

The 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.

On behalf of the Auditor General for Scotland, Audit Scotland appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this authority. It is also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

Data matching 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 but the inclusion of personal data within a data matching exercise does not mean that any specific individual is under suspicion. Where a match is found it indicates that there may be an inconsistency that 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 exercise can also help bodies to ensure that their records are up to date.

Audit Scotland requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We must provide particular sets of data to Audit Scotland for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in Audit Scotland's instructions which can be found at Audit Scotland National Fraud Initiative (External Link). This also includes their privacy notice which sets out how personal data will be used.

The processing of data by Audit Scotland in a data matching exercise is carried out under the powers in Part 2A of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 2018.