South Hams District Council is required by law to protect the public
funds it administers. The Council may share information provided to us with other bodies responsible
for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.
As part of this initiative, The Audit Commission appoints an auditor to audit the
accounts of this Authority and they are also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.
What is involved?
- 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.
- Where a match is found it indicates that there is an inconsistency which requires further
investigation.
- No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanations until
an investigation is carried out.
What is required?
- The Audit Commission currently requires South Hams to participate in a data
matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.
- We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Audit Commission for matching
for each exercise, and these are set out in the Audit Commission's guidance, which can be found at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi.
The
use of data by the Audit Commission in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority
under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the
individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998. Data matching by the Audit Commission is subject
to a Code of Practice. This may be found at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi/codeofdmp.asp
.
For further information:
