Tag: Richard Fuller

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answers of 8 March 2016 to Questions 30341 and 30342 and with reference to the Answers of 5 December 2013 to Question 179450 and 21 January 2014 to Question 182897, when his Department (a) decided to stop collecting the required information and (b) began to collect information in such a way that it can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

For questions 179450 and 182897 volumes of prosecutions and number of errors identified were provided, however these were not all fraud cases, including cases where the error was not deliberate. This did not explicitly answer the enquiry, however was given to provide helpful context. It is not possible to separate cases into those which are a mistake and those where fraud has been accepted without individual case by case analysis.

Again, we cannot directly answer 30341 and 30342 but have provided the below extra information to assist;

	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Total Fraud Investigations (1)	125,140	116,480	171,730
of which total positive outcomes (2)	20,800	20,050	24,600
of which total fraud cases (3)	15,350	12,870	13,600
over which total prosecuted (4)	11,390	8,490	7,150

(1) Total cases investigated by Local Service or complex criminal Investigations.
(2) Total cases where an error has been identified and corrected.
(3) Prosecutions + admin Penalties + cautions: cases where fraud has been proven or accepted.
(4) Cases accepted by CPS for prosecution.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the benefit cap on the number of workless households.

Justin Tomlinson

I refer the hon.Member to the answer I gave today to Oral Question UIN 901933

The benefit cap is having a long term positive impact on people’s lives, and encouraging them to find work.

Over 60,000 households have been capped since April 2013. As of May 2015, over 40,000 households were no longer subject to the benefit cap. Of those, 16,300 households moved into work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will support an international enquiry into the events at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.

Mr Hugo Swire

This is a matter between the Sikh Community and government of India. The purpose of the Cabinet Secretary’s recent investigation and report on the Indian operation at Sri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar in 1984, was to establish the extent of UK Government involvement in the Indian government’s plans for military operations, not the operation itself, or the actions of the Indian government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many complaints the Government has received on the England and Wales personal insolvency regime in relation to (a) bankruptcy, (b) individual voluntary arrangements and (c) debt relief orders in each year since 2010; and what the nature was of such complaints.

Jenny Willott

The Insolvency Service (Agency) does not hold records that categorise complaints in this way for 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12. The Agency’s records are held in relation to complaints received in respect of the official receiver’s administration of bankruptcies and debt relief orders (DROs) from 2012/13 onwards.

Since June 2013, following introduction of the Insolvency Practitioner Complaints Gateway, the Agency has maintained records of complaints made against Insolvency Practitioners (IPs) and their administration of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and Trust Deeds (a Scottish equivalent of IVAs) – no records are held for IVAs alone.

The following table summarises complaint numbers in respect of the official receiver or IP’s administration of bankruptcies, IVA/ Trust Deeds and DROs.

Year	Bankruptcy	IVA & Trust Deeds	Debt relief orders
2012/13	193	–	0
2013/14	154	183	7

Records detailing the nature of complaints received in relation to the official receiver’s administration of bankruptcy and DRO cases have only been held since 2013/14. The complaints are categorised as follows:

Delay in taking action;

Delay in replying to correspondence;

Delay in returning telephone calls;

Personal conduct (of a member of staff);

Misleading/ incorrect information;

Failure to inform/ reply;

Failure to act;

Incorrect action; and

Quality of service by 3rd party acting for the Agency.

The nature of complaints received in respect of an IP’s administration of IVAs are categorised as follows:

Complainant not receiving a completion certificate;

IP’s failure to deal with correspondence;

Complainant disputing payment protection insurance compensation is asset in IVA;

Complainant believes they were given poor advice; and

IP failed to deal with an IVA/ Trust Deed in a timely way.