Benefit Fraud (Hansard, 25 June 1998)

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is her estimate of the number of asylum applications where documents supplied as a result of rejected applications were used for the purposes of fraudulent benefit claims in the last two years. [46415]

§ Mr. Field
The Government have not estimated the number of asylum applications where documents supplied as a result of rejected applications are used for the purposes of fraudulent benefit claims. The Select Committee on Social Security under the previous Administration identified a number of concerns about the way asylum applications were handled. The Government are taking action to improve the security of the way numbers are issued and maintained. This work is at an early stage, and the initial results will determine the action necessary to tighten up the security of national insurance numbers, including action specifically surrounding asylum applications.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is her estimate of the number of persons who are claiming benefits on behalf of other persons who are unaware of benefits being claimed in their name. [46418]

§ Mr. Field
The Government do not yet have an estimate of the number of persons who are claiming benefits on behalf of other persons who are unaware of benefits being claimed in their name.
The Government are taking action to improve the security of the way numbers are issued and maintained. This work is at an early stage, and the initial results will determine the action necessary to tighten up the security of national insurance numbers, including action specifically surrounding persons claiming benefits on behalf of other persons who are unaware of benefits claimed in their name.

§ Mr. Goggins
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is her current estimate of the extent of family credit fraud. [46203]

§ Mr. Field
Tackling fraud and abuse is a top priority for the Government. Operational issues are the responsibility of Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Paul Goggins, dated 24 June 1998: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking for current estimate of the extent of Family Credit (FC) fraud. The Benefits Agency (BA) carries out a Benefit Review Programme in order to reach reliable estimates of the level of fraud on BA benefits. In 1997 the Agency (BA) conducted a pilot Benefit Review of FC in preparation of a main review. The pilot gave us information on methodology and indications about types of fraud, but was a test sample with no statistical validity. Work on the main Benefit Review of FC has been suspended for the present following the decision to move to a Working Families Tax Credit next year. The BA is now in discussion with the Inland Revenue over the results of the pilot review and to explore whether any additional work is needed to further assist and inform the security of Working Families Tax Credit. Although the results from the pilot were not 624W statistically valid, we have put work in hand to follow up weaknesses highlighted by the pilot review, in order to make Family Credit more secure. The "Securing Family Credit" project was initiated in January this year in order to do this. I hope you find this reply helpful.

§ Ms Stuart
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment she has made of the impact of Section 20 of the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997, which confers powers to require postal services not to redirect mail and return it to the issuing authority, on benefit fraud detection. [46267]

§ Mr. Field
This Government are committed to taking tough action against all benefit fraud. These new powers will permanently stop the abuse of the postal redirection service by organised fraudsters. The Department is currently concluding negotiations with Royal Mail and the Local Authority Associations on the application of Section 20 powers to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit post issued by local authorities. We plan to implement the powers nationally from this summer and will monitor their impact. In addition, Royal Mail will carry out regular quality assurance checks to ensure that items of Social Security post are not being redirected.
At the same time, the Department is actively considering the best practical application of Section 20 to other Social Security post. In addition, the Department, together with local authorities, is looking at the use of Section 21 of the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 which provides for the Post Office to supply information about postal redirection to the Secretary of State and local authorities.