§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many newly-issued national insurance numbers have gone missing and how many missing national insurance numbers have been traced to(a) asylum seekers and (b) other persons subject to immigration control in each of the last three years for which figures are available; what estimate he has made of the extent to which national insurance numbers are misappropriated (i) generally, (ii) by asylum seekers and (iii) by other persons subject to immigration control; what action he is taking to investigate this; and if he will make a statement. [121829]
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§ Mr. RookerThere are no missing National Insurance numbers; all numbers issued are recorded on the Departmental Central Index (DCI). There are some numbers, however, that will have been created, typically when someone invents a fictitious identity. We know of 716 such cases.
I announced on 27 March plans to ensure that our defences against identity fraud are strengthened. We have found from a pilot in Balham, South London, that a combination of dedicated resources, better training, specialist equipment and effective liaison between Government Departments, particularly with the Immigration and Nationality Department, leads to improved performance in this area. Staff in Balham, using these techniques, have detected 225 cases where fraudulent identity documents were used, all of which resulted in an arrest.
While data are collected on the number of false identities detected, they are not available in the required format to supply details specific to asylum seekers and those subject to immigration control. The Home Office and my Department work closely to monitor cases involving immigration offenders, 9,256 such cases have been referred. These are checked against DCI, any found to be claiming benefit are referred for investigation by both the Benefits Agency and the Home Office. Data are not available on the outcome of those investigations.