§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what arrangements he plans to make in respect of measures to counter fraud to ensure that claimants do not suffer damage or distress as a result of the matching of personal data which(a) are inaccurate, irrelevant or out of date or (b) relate to other individuals with the same or similar names; and if he will make a statement. [208]
§ Mr. HealdThe Department has considerable experience in matching data held on different computer systems. The detailed criteria to be matched in each exercise are tightly defined to ensure that they are relevant to the benefit concerned and could not properly belong to more than one individual. Where anomalies are revealed, they are fully checked to eliminate inaccuracies before any further investigation is carried out. All data matching activities are conducted under secure conditions to ensure confidentiality.