More than £50 million of public money has been lost due to fraud and error in Northern Ireland last year, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
In his report issued yesterday, Mr John Dowdall expressed reservations about the expenditure in seven accounts produced for inspection by the North's government departments. Total expenditure by the departments exceeds £8.4 billion sterling.
Fraud and error involving social security payments alone account for a loss of £50 million. Mr Dowdall cited "incorrectness" concerning the Income Support and Jobseekers' Allowance payments.
Among other revelations are overpayments of maintenance by non-resident parents estimated at £1.1 million. Mr Dowdall's report also found insufficient documentation supporting some payments by the Roads Service Agency to outside contractors.
The report notes that the cancellation of certain projects also led to the loss of millions of pounds. Over £6 million was lost when a payroll system was dropped.
The auditor called on one department to recover some £750,000 in grants paid out to bodies not eligible for aid. The Department for Learning and Employment was shown to have helped a women-only training scheme where half the trainees were men.
Mr Nigel Dodds, the DUP minister responsible for social security, said his department was working to reduce the level of fraud and error. He admitted that much remained to be done but added that a start had been made.
Sinn FΘin's Ms Sue Ramsey, who represents West Belfast, said: "For decades government departments have essentially been run by civil servants who have not been acceptable. Many people have concerns that this power has resulted in the development of a culture of resistance to openness."
For the Alliance Party, Mr Seamus Close, a member of the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, said: "We will have a zero tolerance approach to fraud. We will be enforcing, and have been now for over 12 months, on permanent secretaries of the various departments that they must be able to follow every pound of public money that is spent."