The dog(s) that didn't bark: exploring perceptions of corruption in the UK

Addressing perceptions of corruption in the UK is not an easy task; very little polling has been carried out on the subject, court trials have been minimal, whilst an obvious discourse on corruption – that is, UK-related corruption – has been largely absent from public debate. One could turn, by way of explanation for the apparent lack of interest in UK-based corruption, to the perceived dearth of corruption taking place within the UK, citing perhaps the scant cases of corruption brought to court and negligible known experiences of instances of petty corruption. Very few cases of corruption are reported to the British Audit Commission every year. Between 1995/6 and 2003, an average of 43 cases were reported each year (with annual losses averaging £262,000). An average of 21 people per year were prosecuted under the three pieces of legislation on corruption between 1993 and 2003. Between 1998-2003, the Serious Fraud Office prosecuted only seven cases where corruption was the charge.1 Indeed, the UK is consistently perceived to experience relatively low levels of corruption in comparison with other states worldwide (e.g. scoring only 11th on Transparency International’s Corruptions Perception Index in 2005 and 2006).