§ Brian WhiteTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to reduce identity theft in areas within the remit of his Department and its agencies. [173053]
§ Mr. PondOur overall aim is to always establish the correct identity of a person prior to providing a benefit or service. We are committed to ensuring that National Insurance Numbers are issued, used and controlled correctly and we will continue to develop and implement strategies that enable us to achieve this.
We have established a secure system for the allocation of National Insurance Numbers to adults, conducting rigorous checks to ensure that adult National Insurance Numbers are only issued to those who had undergone an evidence of identity interview.
We closely monitor 15 million inactive accounts for deceased persons and any attempt to activate one of these accounts will be investigated.
We are also working with the Home Office ID card project to ensure that full and appropriate use is made of ID cards, when available, in accessing DWP systems.