§ 23. Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to minimise fraud in the administration of housing benefit. [79751]
§ Mr. Timms"Safeguarding Social Security", published last month, makes it clear that we want a benefit system which is secure from start to finish. This Government are committed to taking tough action against housing benefit fraud. We have already reformed the anti-fraud financial incentive scheme for local authorities to ensure they continue to be rewarded for detecting cases of genuine benefit fraud and cases where they identify that a claimant is no longer resident at an address. An additional £100 million will be made available to local authorities over the458W next three years to encourage them to adopt the Verification Framework. Through a series of additional checks, carried out throughout the life of a benefit claim, the Verification Framework will help to secure the administration of housing benefit. The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate is continuing to carry out a rolling programme of visits to local authorities. This will also play a key role in driving up standards of administration and security.
To secure the payment of housing benefit from the outset of a claim all local authorities have been invited to participate in the Royal Mail "do not redirect" initiative. This initiative prevents benefit claimants from using Royal Mail's postal redirection arrangements to make false claims to benefit from multiple addresses. To further streamline the administration of housing benefit, over £3 million has been made available this year to install computer terminals in local authorities which provide access to the Department's benefit systems. We are now looking to extend this initiative to include exchanging information electronically between local authorities and the Department, providing further scope to prevent fraud and error occurring in the first place.
§ 26. Mr. StringerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what changes to procedures he proposes to safeguard the benefits system against fraud. [79754]
§ Mr. TimmsWe are improving procedures and processes across the board to get claims right from the outset and then keep them right to reduce losses from fraud and error. It is vital that we secure the gateway to the benefit system. The initial step of checking a claim requires careful scrutiny of the evidence that must be provided by a claimant before payment is made. We have already tightened the gateway to Income Support and saved £200 million in 1998–99 alone.
§ 31. Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on his plans to train and support staff to tackle fraud in the benefit system. [79759]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Department is committed to training and developing all staff to deliver their jobs more effectively, in line with the principles of Investors in People. This commitment applies equally to our staff who tackle fraud in the benefit systems, and who through their administrative duties help in our prevention of fraud.
In October 1997 the gateway to Income Support was substantially strengthened by introducing more checks at points of known weakness. Staff were given over 200,000 hours of extra training on the new rules and this was supported by drawing together into a single code more than 450 separate instructions on how to check and process Income Support claims.
The Benefits Agency (BA) provides extensive training for counter fraud staff ranging from standard interviewing techniques through to specialist training in the law, surveillance and case preparation for the courts. In June 1997 we set up a joint development initiative between the BA and Local Authorities to establish commonality across a range of standards and training issues. In particular the Professionalism In Security (PINS) project is seeking to introduce a new package of accredited training that will lead to the award of a professional qualification in fraud investigation and will be recognised by both central and local government.
459WA foundation level training syllabus has now been finalised and contracts have been awarded for training to improve the professionalism of investigators and thereby to raise the status and profile of this group. In addition, over 50 students are already studying for Security Management certificates, diplomas and degrees offered by the University of Leicester.
Research and development work into an advanced level syllabus, a code of conduct, a code of good practice, a security management framework and centres of excellence is on-going.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the report of the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate into Area Directorate 3 of the Benefits Agency, with particular reference to(a) improving staff compliance with operating procedures and (b) encouraging co-operation between the Agency and local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [81112]
§ Mr. TimmsThe fraud strategy paper published on 29 March, "A New Contract for Welfare: Safeguarding Social Security", highlights the weaknesses of the system that we inherited. The paper also sets out our strategy for dealing with those weaknesses, many of which have been highlighted in the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's report.
The Benefits Agency is committed to improving standards and, in response to the issues raised in the BFI report, has produced a robust and detailed action plan which was published in the report. It has already taken a number of steps to improve staff compliance to administrative procedures and counter-fraud work. This action plan, together with an annual plan for the Area Directorate 3, will be reviewed regularly and rigorously to check that standards are achieved.
By working in partnership, councils and the Benefits Agency can fight fraud more effectively, as well as giving better service to the public. That is why we have earmarked funding in each Benefits Agency area to develop stronger links with local councils. Liaison between the BA and the local authorities is governed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) at local level, based on national models. All SLAs have been revised recently and cover core activities on benefit administration and fraud and give each party a clear statement of how co-operation should work in practice.