The National Fraud Initiative (‘NFI’) is a counter fraud data matching exercise led by Audit Scotland to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud, which occurs every 2 years, which the Council are required to participate in, including providing particular sets of data we hold for the purposes of matching.
The previous 2022/2023 Scotland ‘NFI’ exercise (involving the participation of 110 public sector bodies across Scotland submitting data) identified fraud or error of £21.5 million. It is therefore a key initiative in detecting fraud and safeguarding the Council’s finances.
The Council is required by law to protect the funds it administers and may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds in order to prevent or detect fraud. This is called ‘data matching’.
Data matching involves comparing electronic records held by one body against other records held by the same or another body, which is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified and where a match is found it indicates that there may be an inconsistency which 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 assist bodies to ensure that their records held are up to date.
The use of data by Audit Scotland in this exercise is carried out with statutory authority (normally under its powers on Part 2A of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000) and does not require the consent of individuals concerned under the General Data Protection Regulation. For further associated information see - Audit Scotland code of practice.
More details on how we use your personal data are contained within the Privacy Notice page.
For further information on data matching at this authority contact:
Andi Priestman, Audit Manager,
Municipal Buildings
College Way
Dumbarton
G82 1NR
Telephone: 01389 731100
Email: Andi.Priestman@west-dunbarton.gov.uk