Fair Processing Notice
Bedford Borough Council 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 Audit Commission appoints the auditor to
audit the accounts of this authority. It is also responsible
for carrying out data matching exercises.
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
explanation until an investigation is carried out.
The Audit Commission currently requires us 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
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/national-fraud-initiative/code-of-data-matching-practice/
For further information on the Audit
Commission’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular
information, see http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/fairprocessing