§ Mr. BurdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information his Department has regarding the contracting out of benefits fraud investigation by local authorities.
§ Mr. BurtI have been asked to reply.
Two local authorities have contracted out aspects of their benefit administration and two others are in the process of doing so. None has sought to contract out benefit fraud investigation.
We fully support authorities which decide to contract out elements of benefit administration that the law permits and we have issued guidance to all authorities which contains the following advice on benefit fraud investigation:
… Contractors should be alerted to the possibility of claimant fraud/abuse, and contracting out authorities are strongly advised to ensure that measures to detect and prevent fraud/abuse are made a contractual obligation. In view of the specialised nature of fraud investigation, the Department considers that, once the contractor's suspicions are aroused for any reason, full deteails should be passed immediately to the authority to conduct the investigation and direct further action, such as notifying the DSS District Office where Income Support or other Social Security benefits are in payment.