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Jobseeker's Allowance (Fraud)
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what number and percentage of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants have been proved to be claiming fraudulently in each of the last five years; and what savings have been made in each of these years as a result of benefit withdrawal in such cases. [97881]
Angela Eagle: The information is in the table.
| Total number of fraud cases detected | Percentage of average case load over the period | Savings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 1996-March 1997 | 15,626 | 0.8 | 33,885,344 |
| 1997-98 | 161,512 | 10.4 | 556,097,856 |
| 1998-99 | 191,829 | 14.2 | 1,054,260,736 |
Notes:
1. JSA was introduced in October 1996.
2. The savings column figures are the weekly benefit paid to the fraudulent claimants multiplied by 32, the estimated average length of time a claim to benefit would have lasted had the fraud not been detected.
Benefit Fraud (Bolton)
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the level of benefit fraud in the Bolton area; and what targets have been set for the anti-fraud team in Bolton. [97908]
Mr. Rooker:
The Benefits Agency (BA) does not keep details of the levels of benefit fraud for specific towns. However, a programme of Area Benefit Reviews (ABRs) are undertaken to measure incidence and customer fraud and error in Income Support (IS) and Income-Based Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)(IB).
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Figures for Greater Manchester, the Area Directorate in which Bolton is situated, indicate that the extent of fraud and customer error is around 10.1 per cent. of IS and JSA (IB) programme expenditure.
We outlined our strategy for tackling fraud and error within the system in "Safeguarding Social Security". A copy of this is available in the Library.
Teams situated in all Area Directorates will be working towards achieving the target and their progress will be measured by a set of Programme Protection Indicators, which will inform whether resources and activities are being targeted efficiently.
Local Authorities have different monetary targets in the form of weekly savings for Housing and Council Tax Benefits. For 1999-2000, Bolton Borough Council's target is to save £688,019 through securer, more accurate benefit payments and investigating cases of alleged fraud.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in the West Midlands are currently on the waiting list for the consideration of appeals against unsuccessful claims for disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement. [97801]
Mr. Bayley:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
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The number of Disability Living Allowance appeals awaiting hearing in the area handled by the Birmingham office of the Independent Tribunal Service/The Appeals Service (ITS/TAS) was 1,421 at the end of October 1999, the latest period for which figures are available. In addition the Disability Benefits Centre in the Midlands, which covers the West Midlands Area, has 70 cases being prepared for referral to the ITS/TAS.
The Appeals Service remains committed to improving the service it offers to the users of its service and has put in place measures systematically to tackle its oldest cases while ensuring that waiting times for newer appeals are reduced. These measures have seen outstanding loads nationally (for all appeals) fall from 138,827 at the beginning of the current financial year to 68,850 at the end of September, the latest period for which national figures are available.
Mr. Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many children were living in households in each decile of income up to half average income for each year since the data were collected, broken down by (a) whether the children live in (i) one and (ii) two parent families and (b) by the economic status of the parents. [97912]
Angela Eagle
[holding answer 9 November 1999]: The information is in the tables.
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Source:
Family Resources Survey
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Notes:
1. All figures are estimates and are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sets. The current series is based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and is available for years 1994-95 to 1997-98 and covers Great Britain but not Northern Ireland. Information is also provided for 1979 from the previous HBAI series which was based on the Family Expenditure Survey and covered the United Kingdom. The two series are not strictly comparable due to changes in definition.
2. The figures presented will be subject to sampling error. Figures for children are sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale.
3. Figures may not sum due to rounding. The results for children according to the number of parents in the family exclude a small number of children who live with pensioners. These children are included in the breakdown by economic type.
4. The income measure used is weekly net (disposable) equivalised household income (that is to say income that is adjusted to reflect The composition of the household). It is standard HBAI practice to give results for income both before and after housing costs, in order to allow for the effect of variations in housing costs between households. Results are also provided including and excluding the self-employed, reflecting the inherent uncertainty of income measures for the self-employed.
5. Three deciles are shown because in 1997-98 the half average point After Housing Costs lies in the third decile. The Before Housing Costs half average in 1997-98 lies in the second decile. Results for the bottom decile should be treated with caution as evidence suggests that income data for these households may be subject to measurement error.
Source:
Family Resources Survey
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