§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) for what reasons records on the regional effects of the Benefit Integrity Project are not maintained; and if she will ensure that such effects are measured before proceeding to any changes in benefits covered by the Project; [24353]
(2) pursuant to her answer of 13 January 1998, Official Report, column 251, for what reasons regional figures about the effects of the Benefit Integrity Project are not available; and on what geographical basis they are available. [24729]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Benefit Integrity Project aims to ensure that those in receipt of DLA are entitled to it. While it is right to check that people are receiving the correct amount of benefit, we are determined that those checks should be undertaken as sensitively as possible. Also, that we should ensure all decisions taken as a result of the project are right. We have, therefore, acted to introduce an extra safeguard to improve the quality of, and confidence in, benefit decisions made by the Project.
498WThe two main reasons for this were that the only hotel capable of accommodating a conference of over 300 ministers and top civil servants from throughout the EU, the Gosforth Park, was unavailable on the required dates, and that Newcastle airport had practically no incoming international flights at the weekend.