‘Blunder’ over school fraud probe

A Home Office spokesman said the mistake had been made by Action Fraud – the UK’s national fraud reporting centre – after they had received a telephone call from the Department for Education (DfE) about the finances of the Kings Science Academy in Bradford.

Politicians last night demanded answers over how allegations of fraud were not properly passed on to the police.

The DfE’s own investigation into the school revealed it had submitted fabricated invoices to the department to claim thousands of pounds of public money. A report from the investigation recommended the matter be passed onto the police.

A redacted version of the report was released just over a week ago by the DfE along with a statement which said they had informed police who had decided to take no further action.

Now it has emerged that after the DfE contacted Action Fraud on April 25, the matter was then not passed onto police as alleged crime but for information.

A Home Office spokesman, commenting on behalf of Action Fraud, said the initial report about the free school had been made by a phonecall from the DfE. He could not say last night whether the DfE had also passed on its own report, which detailed a raft of financial failings at the school.

Action Fraud referred the report on for information to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).

Since the DfE report was made public the matter has been passed by the NFIB on to West Yorkshire Police who have launched an investigation into the free school.

A spokesman for Action Fraud said: “We can confirm we received a call from the Department for Education in relation to the Kings Science Academy on April 25.

“An administrative error led to this being categorised as an information report, rather than a crime report, before it was sent to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau for assessment.

“However, this case is now being investigated by West Yorkshire police.”

He added that Action Fraud will be “reviewing its processes in light of this case.”

A spokeswoman for the NFIB said: “The NFIB are aware that a report of fraud was made to Action Fraud regarding a school in Bradford. The report was incorrectly recorded as an information report.

“We can confirm that the report has since been disseminated to West Yorkshire police for investigation.”

Bradford politicians last night voiced dismay that an administrative error was being blamed for the situation.

Respect MP for Bradford West George Galloway has called on Education Secretary Michael Gove to come to the House of Commons to answer questions on the matter.

David Ward MP for Bradford East and Mr Galloway both said last night that the latest revelations meant the DfE’s statement last week – which said police had decided to take no further action – was wrong.

A DfE spokeswoman said, however, the department’s statement had been correct since they had been told by Action Fraud that the matter was not being pursued by police.

Labour councillor Ralph Berry, Bradford Council’s executive member for children’s services said: “It is worrying that the people who are supposed to be the guardians of the entire system, could not manage to pass this important information on to the police properly.”