§ 22. Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on his proposals to reform housing benefit. [99084]
§ Angela EagleWe intend to publish a Housing Green Paper in due course. This will present proposals for Housing Benefit within the overall strategy for Housing.
§ Mr. LoveTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to reduce scope for error and fraud in the housing benefit system; and if he will make a statement. [99635]
§ Mr. RookerWe are committed to taking tough action to combat Housing Benefit fraud. We have
reformed the anti-fraud financial incentive scheme for local authorities to ensure that they are rewarded for detecting cases of fraud;made an additional £100 million available over the next three years to encourage local authorities to adopt the Verification Framework, which, through a series of checks throughout the period of a benefit claim, will help make Housing Benefit administration more secure;invited all local authorities to participate in the Royal Mail "do not redirect" initiative which prevents benefit claimants from using Royal Mail's postal redirection arrangements to make false claims to benefit from multiple addresses. Already, over 200 local authorities are operating this scheme and many more are preparing to implement it;made over £4 million available 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.