New advice to help councils in England fight procurement fraud has been published by the Government.

The risk review aims to help councils strengthen their processes and implement prevention measures to tackle fraud and corruption.

A survey of local councils showed that nearly a quarter of respondents reported fraud and/or corruption in the procurement cycle in 2017-18.

Local government minister, Simon Clarke, said: 'Acknowledging and mitigating the risk of fraud and corruption is critical for sound financial management and to ensuring that every pound spent by councils is used to support the communities they serve. This is true especially at a time when councils continue to work hard in the national effort against the coronavirus pandemic.

'There is no silver bullet, but I would urge all councils across the country to learn lessons from this report and harness the tools it provides to tackle fraud and corruption.'