Dr. Desmond TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if the London Borough of1124W Hackney has met the terms of the direction he issued on 12 October 2001 in connection with claims for housing benefit and council tax benefit. [43756]
§ Malcolm WicksFollowing an assessment by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate, we are satisfied that the London Borough of Hackney has met the terms of the direction given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 12 October 2001 in respect of housing benefit and council tax benefit.
The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's report of its assessment has been placed in the Library.
The report shows that the authority responded well to the challenge of the direction and that it is also putting in place the necessary processes to improve performance generally. The large backlog of 39,000 outstanding cases on 19 April 2001 was cleared by 31 December 2001 and was done without compromising the standards of other benefits work not associated with the backlog. There were indications that the level of accuracy had in fact risen following the issue of the direction.
The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate did find some areas where they considered there was a need for improvement, for example in the way sample cases for checking were selected and recorded. The report suggests a number of areas of good practice that the Authority will be able to make use of to address the weaknesses identified.
There is still much that needs to be done to make the service fully effective, but the authority is to be commended for the significant improvements found by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate.