HC Deb 10 November 1999 vol 337 cc558-9W
Mr. Crausby

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the level of benefit fraud in the Bolton area; and what targets have been set for the anti-fraud team in Bolton. [97908]

Mr. Rooker

The Benefits Agency (BA) does not keep details of the levels of benefit fraud for specific towns. However, a programme of Area Benefit Reviews (ABRs) are undertaken to measure incidence and customer fraud and error in Income Support (IS) and Income-Based Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)(IB).

Figures for Greater Manchester, the Area Directorate in which Bolton is situated, indicate that the extent of fraud and customer error is around 10.1 per cent. of IS and JSA (IB) programme expenditure.

We outlined our strategy for tackling fraud and error within the system in "Safeguarding Social Security". A copy of this is available in the Library.

Teams situated in all Area Directorates will be working towards achieving the target and their progress will be measured by a set of Programme Protection Indicators, which will inform whether resources and activities are being targeted efficiently.

Local Authorities have different monetary targets in the form of weekly savings for Housing and Council Tax Benefits. For 1999–2000, Bolton Borough Council's target is to save £688,019 through securer, more accurate benefit payments and investigating cases of alleged fraud.