§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which benefit rules are being examined to establish whether their design contributes to(a) fraud and (b) error. [79233]
§ Mr. TimmsWe are currently examining the rules listed in chapter five of the Green Paper "Beating Fraud is Everyone's Business: securing the future" (Cm 4012). In each case, we are assessing the extent to which their design contributes to both fraud and error.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the budget is for the next five years for providing staff with the information technology required to beat fraud. [79229]
§ Mr. TimmsWe will be investing in new technology to modernise the administration of Social Security and to make payments more secure against fraud and error. It is not possible to distinguish the costs of security from those of administration.
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§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposals contained in Safeguarding Social Security upon benefit administration costs. [79219]
§ Mr. TimmsDelivering a secure system is an integral part of good benefit administration. It is therefore not always possible to specify costs solely directed at safeguarding Social Security. Modernising our computer systems, for example, will deliver a better, as well as a more secure, service to the public.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what target the National Audit Office proposed for reducing fraud and error in income support and jobseeker's allowance. [79216]
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what monetary incentive will remain for local authorities to detect fraud and error in benefits once the proposals in the Green Paper "Safeguarding Social Security" have been put in place; and if he will make a statement. [79230]
§ Mr. TimmsWe have reformed the local authority anti-fraud incentive scheme to ensure that authorities submit valid claims for additional subsidy payments arising from the detection of genuine cases of benefit fraud. It is equally important to prevent fraud from entering the system. An additional £100 million will be made available to local authorities over the 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 prevent benefit fraud and error before it has a chance to occur.
For the longer term we are working with local authorities on the measurement of levels of fraud, the effectiveness of anti-fraud strategies and the whole local authority funding regime.
§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to adopt a civil law definition of fraud for the purposes of measuring the level of fraud. [79232]