County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service 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.
The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office, it is a data matching exercise that runs every two years and is designed to help participating bodies identify possible cases of fraud and detect and correct any consequential under or overpayments from the public purse.
Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body. 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 explanation until an investigation is carried out.
The Cabinet Office requires us to participate in the NFI exercise and the use of the data 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.
For information, data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Data Matching Practice and this can be found at
http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-data-matching-practic…
Further information relating to the NFI exercise, including the Cabinet Office’s legal powers and reasons why it matches particular information, can be obtained from the Gov.uk website – https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-fraud-initiative
Please also refer to their Fair Processing Notice Full text webpage at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fair-processing-national-fra…
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please e-mail the Finance Office at finance@ddfire.gov.uk or, if you prefer, telephone on 0191 375 5579
The Service participates in the provision of data under the Initiative every two years. All interested parties are contacted prior to the information being release although consent of the individuals concerned is not required under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Notice is given to:
Unions (by letter): FBU, Unison, GMB & APFO
All Staff Fair Processing Notice Level 2 via bulletin, email & website
Retired Members (by letter)
Fair Processing Notice – Level 1 – on job application forms / statement of particulars.
Latest Initiatives
12th October 2020
NFI 18-19 5th October 2018