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  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what policy his Department has in place to protect the confidentiality of data disclosed to JCP systems by jobseekers.

    Priti Patel

    All DWP staff are required to undertake annual information security training to ensure they are aware of the need to handle customer information in a way that preserves the integrity, security and confidentiality of that information. DWP also requires staff to apply and comply with the principles contained in the Data Protection Act 1998 and government security standards at all times.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that it provides its staff with sufficient guidance to ensure that sanctions are not placed on universal credit claimants who do not have an applicable box to tick on NHS charges claim forms when claiming help with NHS health costs.

    Alistair Burt

    Various sources of information for the public and relevant staff, such as NHS Choices, are provided on the arrangements for Help with Health Costs, including how Universal Credit claimants should claim. However, the Department for Work and Pensions has also issued general guidance to staff signposting key information.

    Any claims for exemption from National Health Service charges or remission or repayment of relevant health costs made by a person because they meet the qualifying criteria may be the subject of a validation check. This is to protect NHS resources from fraud and error.

    Where a patient meets the criteria in place for Universal Credit and is therefore entitled to claim entitlement to Help with Health Costs, but there is no Universal Credit box available to tick on relevant forms, they can claim by ticking the “gets income based Jobseekers Allowance” box. Those whose claim is selected for a validation check will be able to explain their position to the relevant authority, and use their Universal Credit award notice to support their claim.

  • Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for increased benefit fraud in the last financial year.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The 2014-2015 national statistics for fraud and error were published on 5 November 2015. We are committed to tackling fraud and error, and these figures show a reduction in total benefit fraud and error to the lowest ever level of 1.8%. There was a slight increase of 0.1% in the benefit fraud figure (from 0.7% in 2013-2014 to 0.8%).

  • Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of benefit fraud in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2013-14; and what proportion of total expenditure on housing benefit that cost represented in each of those years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Overpayments in the benefit system have fallen to a record low of 1.8% for 2014-15.

    In 2013-14 total benefit expenditure excluding housing benefit was £140bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was £0.77bn (0.55%). Similarly, Housing Benefit expenditure was £24.2bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was £0.43bn (1.78%).

    In 2014-15 total benefit expenditure excluding housing benefit was £144bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was £0.71bn (0.49%). Similarly, Housing Benefit expenditure was £24.3bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was 0.59bn (2.43%).

  • David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the cumulative effect of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s.

    Justin Tomlinson

    An overview of the evidence considered when developing the policy for equalisation of the State Pension age, is provided in the 1993 White Paper, ‘Equality in State Pension age’, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.

    Estimates of the effect of the increase in State Pension age in the Pensions Act 2011 are presented in the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment, published in November 2011, available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf

    The latter assessment is a comparison of the impact of the Pensions Act 2011 timetable against the baseline of the 1995 Pensions Act timetable.

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  • Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to transfer housing benefit fraud investigation powers from local authorities to national investigation service.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The current intention is for Local Authority powers to prosecute Housing Benefit cases to be turned off from 02 April 2016, at which time the Department for Work and Pensions Fraud and Error Service will assume overall responsibility, following the full implementation of the Single Fraud Investigation Service Project.

  • David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to mitigate the effects of provisions of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age arrangements for women affected by the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011. These women will receive their State Pension either at the same age as men or earlier as we remove current gender timetable inequality.

    The equalisation of State Pension age was necessary to meet the UK’s obligations under EU law to eliminate gender inequalities in social security provision. The Pensions Act 1995 contained legislation to equalise women’s State Pension age and, since April 2010, women’s State Pension age has been gradually increasing. Following sharp increases in life expectancy projections, and therefore the increase in the number of people living longer in retirement, this timetable was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.

    A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession benefited almost a quarter of a million women, who would otherwise have experienced delays of up to two years. A similar number of men also benefited from a reduced increase, and the concession was worth around £1 billion in total.

  • Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to work with credit reference agencies on addressing benefit fraud and error.

    Justin Tomlinson

    We already use credit reference agency data in the Fraud and Error Service on a case by case basis to support investigations, for example once high suspicion has already been identified which could be via a Hotline allegation or staff referral for example. In debt recovery the use of credit reference agency data enables us to have more informed discussions with the debtor and to reach agreement on rates of repayment that are sustainable for the debtor and meet our needs.

  • Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on tackling benefit fraud and error in each of the last five financial years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Fraud and error is tackled within a number of areas across the Department. Specifically, the Fraud, Error and Debt Programme which commenced in June 2013 and delivers major change projects.

    Spending on the Fraud, Error and Debt Programme for the 5 years between 2010/11 and 2014/15 was £300m, delivering savings of circa £2bn. Further savings in the region of £2.9bn are expected by the end of 2021- 2022.

    In addition the Fraud and Error Service is a specialist organisation focused on identifying and correcting benefit fraud and the many Operational teams across the Department also play a critical role in preventing fraud and error occurring. The Department also provides financial incentives to Local Authorities with regard to identifying fresh initiatives to support the reduction of fraud and error in housing benefit.

    To provide a breakdown of how much the Department spent in aggregate on tackling benefit fraud and error in the last five years would incur disproportionate costs and we have therefore not provided a breakdown.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will collect statistics on waiting times for disability benefit appeals to reach tribunal to ensure that such cases are not subject to delays.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    HMCTS is unable to provide the information requested as it is not held centrally.

    Information about the timeliness of SSCS appeals is published by the Ministry of Justice in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly. The most recent report (for the period April to June 2015, published on 10 September 2015) can be viewed at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2015.

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