Data Matching (Hansard, 12 July 1999)

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what instructions and guidance he has given to staff to forbid them from approaching employers requiring copies of complete databases of personal data; and if he will place a copy of such guidance in the Library. [89593]

§ Mr. Timms
Fraud investigators have the power to request information from employers about their employees under Section 110 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and the Jobseeker's Act 1995. Guidance on how to operate these powers is contained in a number of Departmental sources. These set out the Department's procedures for deterring and investigating fraud and it would not normally be appropriate to make them public.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list(a) the total number of claimant matches undertaken by his Department's data matching programme, (b) the number of matches which resulted in no further action, (c) the number of matches which required investigation by staff, (d) the number of matches 65W which, following such investigation, resulted in no further action, (e) the number of withdrawn claims and prosecutions identified by data matching, (f) the cost of the data matching programme so far, including all direct and indirect staff costs and (h) the amounts of benefits saved by the data matching programme. [89591]

§ Mr. Timms
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables.

Generalised Matching Service

Year ending 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99

Anomalies referred for investigation — 62,937 85,071 137,307 139,292

Referrals resulting in benefit savings or identified overpayments — 20,998 34,989 56,290 87,670

Referrals requiring no further action pre investigation — 25,862 32,482 45,749 62,719

Referrals requiring no further action post investigation — 1,668 4,039 9,324 10,565

Total referrals cleared¹ — 48,528 71,510 111,363 160,954

Weekly Benefit Savings — £28.8m £51.1m £83.7m £154.2m

Funding £2.6m £10.7m £11.4m £14.1m £16.5m

¹The Department's data matching programmes are rolling programmes. The referrals they produce can take a number of months to investigate and cannot all be cleared in the year that they are generated.

Housing Benefit Matching Service

Year ending 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99

Anomalies referred to Local Authorities for investigation¹ — 25,940 49,084

Referrals resulting in benefit savings or identified overpayments^1,2 — 5,235 15,109

Weekly Benefit Savings¹ — £4,388,496 £12,970,952

Recoverable overpayments¹ — £2,815,950 £7,303,508

Funding³ £1,617,213 £2,428,314 £2,437,313

¹ The 1997–98 figures include the figures for 1996–97.

² The Department only records details of the referrals to Local Authorities which result in benefit savings or identified overpayments.

³ The figures given only relate to the costs of operating the Housing Benefit Matching Service. They do not include the Local Authorities' cost of investigating those referrals, which are not recorded by the DSS. This is a voluntary scheme and responsibility for recording the cost of participation would fall to the Local Authorities.

Generalised Matching Service
Year ending	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99
Anomalies referred for investigation	—	62,937	85,071	137,307	139,292
Referrals resulting in benefit savings or identified overpayments	—	20,998	34,989	56,290	87,670
Referrals requiring no further action pre investigation	—	25,862	32,482	45,749	62,719
Referrals requiring no further action post investigation	—	1,668	4,039	9,324	10,565
Total referrals cleared¹	—	48,528	71,510	111,363	160,954
Weekly Benefit Savings	—	£28.8m	£51.1m	£83.7m	£154.2m
Funding	£2.6m	£10.7m	£11.4m	£14.1m	£16.5m
¹The Department's data matching programmes are rolling programmes. The referrals they produce can take a number of months to investigate and cannot all be cleared in the year that they are generated.

Housing Benefit Matching Service
Year ending	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99
Anomalies referred to Local Authorities for investigation¹	—	25,940	49,084
Referrals resulting in benefit savings or identified overpayments^1,2	—	5,235	15,109
Weekly Benefit Savings¹	—	£4,388,496	£12,970,952
Recoverable overpayments¹	—	£2,815,950	£7,303,508
Funding³	£1,617,213	£2,428,314	£2,437,313
¹ The 1997–98 figures include the figures for 1996–97.
² The Department only records details of the referrals to Local Authorities which result in benefit savings or identified overpayments.
³ The figures given only relate to the costs of operating the Housing Benefit Matching Service. They do not include the Local Authorities' cost of investigating those referrals, which are not recorded by the DSS. This is a voluntary scheme and responsibility for recording the cost of participation would fall to the Local Authorities.