§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the benefits that can be claimed using an electronic claims facility. [185057]
§ Mr. PondAt present, only Carers Allowance can be claimed using an electronic claims facility; however, we are working to extend this provision to other benefits as soon as it is practical to do so. In addition, electronic
146Wcent. in 2002–03. The average total Security Against Fraud and Error subsidy across all local authorities as a proportion of expenditure was 0.3 per cent. in 2002–03.
§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department have been(a) investigated, (b) suspended, (c) dismissed, (d) prosecuted and (e) convicted for involvement in benefit fraud in each of the last six months; and what amounts were involved in each case. [184688]
§ Mr. PondInformation is not available in the exact format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the table and accompanying text.
32 cases of staff suspected of involvement in benefit fraud have been investigated during the period 1 January 2004 to 30 June 2004. These cases include both fraudulent personal claims to benefit and assisting third parties to commit benefit fraud.
In the same period, 10 members of staff were given either a disciplinary penalty and/or were prosecuted and convicted of an offence. Some of these will have resulted from investigations in earlier periods. Details, including the amount of benefit involved in each case, are shown in the following table. Where an amount is not shown in the table, either it has not been possible to determine a value or the overpayment is still being calculated.
claim forms are available on the internet for many of our benefits; these can be completed before being printed off, signed and forwarded to the appropriate office.