Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35095 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 March 2025, how many staff are in Social Security Scotland’s counter fraud branch; whether the full and undivided work attentions of all the staff in that branch are towards the work of countering fraud in social security, and whether the Scottish Government has any way of determining what proportion of work done by Social Security Scotland’s counter fraud branch goes into identifying fraudulent applications.
Social Security Scotland carefully considers what information on counter fraud can be placed into the public domain to ensure it does not undermine the ability of Social Security Scotland to prevent and detect crime and protect the public purse. It does not disclose details of the size of the Counter Fraud Branch.
Counter Fraud Branch consists of officials who work closely together to prevent, detect, identify and investigate allegations of fraud against Social Security Scotland. The staff undertake fraud risk assessment, intelligence management and investigation activities and are located throughout Scotland.
The majority of the staff resources within the Counter Fraud Branch are fully engaged in delivering the Counter Fraud activities highlighted above. A small proportion work to understand, monitor and where appropriate investigate potential internal threats – which includes, but is not limited to, insider fraud. This team also provides specialist investigation support to other business areas within Social Security Scotland.