In a report by the House of Lords Justice, Institutions and Consumer Protection EU Sub-Committee, it is recommended that the Government charge a single department with the task coordinating the fight against EU fraud and take responsibility for attempting to get a grip on the problem.

‘Shortage of enthusiasm’

Treasury figures show that last year amounted to a loss of up to £1 billion a year in VAT fraud in the UK and €77 million and €204 million against EU agricultural and cohesion policy programmes respectively.
The Committee expressed concern of the Government’s ‘lack of engagement’ as well as the ‘shortage of enthusiasm’ shown by EU member states in addressing the problem.
Committee Chairman Lord Bowness commented: ‘It is extremely worrying that so much money is disappearing from the EU’s budget without anyone really having a handle on where and why it is happening and – most importantly – who is responsible.

'Extremely alarmed'

‘That we have no control over how other Member States organise their affairs is a given, but what we can – and are failing - to do, is to monitor what is happening on our own doorstep. The Committee were extremely alarmed at the lack of both engagement from and, seemingly, interest in the huge financial problem that fraud committed against the EU budget is in the UK.
‘By identifying a single Government department to lead the fight against EU fraud, the UK would be demonstrating our commitment to stemming the fiscal flow of fraudulent money.’