The government is seeking to help manage debts owed to the public sector more effectively. The Act creates a new gateway enabling information to be shared between specified persons, listed in a Schedule on the face of the Act, in relation to debt owed to public authorities or the Crown. This is with a view to improving efficiency in dealing with debt owed to the public sector, and using effective data-sharing to get a more informed view of a customer’s individual circumstances and their ability to pay. Each proposed data-sharing arrangement under this power will be subject to a pilot process which will be set out in a statutory code of practice to measure the effectiveness of the information-sharing.
	Government agencies work to detect and prevent fraudulent activity against the public sector. Similar to the debt power, the Act enables bodies listed in a Schedule on the face of the Act to share information with a view to taking action in respect of fraud against a public authority. These data-sharing arrangements are also subject to a pilot process, which will allow new methods of information-sharing to be trialled and measured for effectiveness. It is intended that more effective data-sharing in this area will make it easier, for example, to spot conflicting information across different public services that could suggest patterns of fraud for further investigation by officials.
Policy background Digital Government Debt and Fraud