Inquiry to tot up true level of grant fraud

GOVERNMENT officials are conducting an inquiry to find the true level of student grant fraud amidst reports putting false claims at more than Pounds 34 million over the last four years. The DFEE disputes this figure, identified by accountants Price Waterhouse in a report commissioned by the department and presented to it last autumn. A DFEE spokesman said: "It is a guesstimate. Local authorities can only say for definite that fraud over the last four years amounts to Pounds 4 million." The National Audit Office is likely to look into the issue separately.