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Benefit Fraud
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) Benefits Agency staff, (b) Jobcentre Plus staff and (c) council officers have been (i) disciplined, (ii) suspended, (iii) dismissed, (iv) prosecuted and (v) convicted for matters relating to benefit fraud in each of the last five years; and how much benefit was defrauded in each case. [71779]
Malcolm Wicks: We treat any suspicion of involvement in benefit fraud by the Department's staff very seriously and all cases are thoroughly investigated and appropriate action taken where necessary.
The Department does not hold information in respect of council officers.
The information available on individual cases is in the table.
(18) Housing benefit fraud. Loss to local authority funds £7,000.
(19) Housing benefit fraud. Loss to local authority funds £3,186.
(20) Housing benefit fraud. Loss to local authority funds £3,697.06.
(21) Housing benefit fraud. Loss to local authority funds £2,820.18.
(22) Housing benefit fraud. Loss to local authority funds £7,631.37.
(23) Housing benefit fraud. Loss to local authority funds £2,140.
Notes:
1. Details of prosecution cases for 1997–98 are provided but information on cases not referred for prosecution is not readily available.
2. The Department for Work and Pensions was formed in June 2001. Prior to this incidents of suspected benefit fraud within the former Employment Service (ES) were investigated by the Benefit Fraud Investigation Service (BFIS) and included within the overall fraud returns. They are not identifiable separately.
3. All the information for 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01 covers BA staff only. The figures for 2001–02 are inclusive of BA and ES staff. (Relevant information from ES for April to June 2001 was included in the 2001–02 DWP Treasury report).
4. The outcomes are recorded according to definitions provided by HMT for the annual Treasury report.
22 Jul 2002 : Column 809W
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the average cost to a local authority of a prosecution for suspected benefit fraud in the last year for which figures are available. [71780]
Malcolm Wicks: Information on the cost to a local authority of a prosecution for suspected benefit fraud is not collected by the Department, so it is not possible to provide an estimate of the average cost.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the baseline figure is for assessing progress in meeting his target of reducing fraud and error in housing benefit by 25 per cent. by 2006, detailed on page 119 of the 2002 Spending Review. [71781]
Malcolm Wicks: The housing benefit review which is under way will enable us to establish a baseline level of fraud and error for the financial year 2002–03. The results of this review should be available in autumn 2003.
Automated Credit Transfer
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if benefit claimants who receive payments by order book and who already have a bank account will have the option under automated credit transfer of opening (a) a basic bank account accessible through a post office and (b) a post office card account. [71786]
Malcolm Wicks: Yes. They will also have the option of using their existing account. Customers will be provided with the information to help them make the best choice for their circumstances.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made on the implementation of a national call centre to deal with emergency payments following the introduction of ACT; and if he will make a statement. [70188]
Malcolm Wicks: There are no plans for the implementation of a national call centre to deal with emergency payments.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Government propose to start the advertising campaign to promote the new ACT procedures due to come into operation in April 2003; how much is to be allocated for this campaign; and if he will make a statement. [70523]
Malcolm Wicks: The campaign aims to give customers the factual information they need about the choices they have as we reform the way we pay benefits and pensions. This will begin in October 2002 when we will start to issue mailings to customers as the first stage of an information campaign we are currently developing.
This will be followed by the wider information campaign using a range of media from early next year. As this campaign is currently being developed the final budget has yet to be decided.
Benefit Payment Methods
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) which Minister in his Department is responsible for monitoring the risk presented by the modernisation of payments; [70421]
22 Jul 2002 : Column 810W
- (2) at what level in the risk ranking and evaluation of process stage 2 of the DWP Risk Management Framework, the controllability of the risk concerning the modernisation of payments and controlling the potential for escalation is considered to be; [70419]
(3) whether the modernisation of payments is considered a risk managed at strategic level; [70420]
(4) if, in the risk ranking and evaluation of process stage 2 of the DWP Risk Management Framework, the modernisation of payments risk is considered a red, amber or green risk; [70418]
(5) what assessment has been made of the risk presented by the modernisation of payments in process stage 1 of the DWP Risk Management Framework were the assumption to turn out wrong; [70425]
(6) to whom the modernisation of benefits payments is risk-assigned; [70424]
(7) what action is being taken to mitigate the risk presented by the modernisation of benefits payments by his Department; [70422]
(8) at what level the stability of the assumption that universal banking services will be established on time has been identified in process stage 1 of the DWP Risk Management Framework. [70417]
Malcolm Wicks: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is responsible for dealing with all of the Department's Public Service Agreement targets.
All DWP projects, including modernisation of payments, are subjected to a gateway process staged review and approval by the director of project management throughout their lifecycle. They are subjected to structured independent peer reviews and undertake a formal risk assessment using the Department's assumption based risk identification methodology.
Risk identification is carried out at a very senior level and this provides an outward facing strategic approach to risk presence.
A similar approach is being taken with the cross- Government universal banking programme.
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of benefit recipients receive payments via bank or building society accounts or girocheque broken down by benefit type. [70414]
Malcolm Wicks: Over 40 per cent. of payments for benefit claimants are already paid directly into their bank or building society. This provides a more modern, secure and efficient way of making payments. The table provides details broken down by benefits as at March 2002.
Girocheques are not a normal method of payment option for any benefit other than JSA. The estimated number of JSA customers paid by girocheque is 77 per cent.
22 Jul 2002 : Column 811W
| Benefit | Percentage paid direct into bank or building society |
|---|---|
| Retirement pension, widows benefit and bereavement benefit | 40 |
| Child benefit | 45 |
| Incapacity benefit | 25 |
| Income support (estimated) | 18 |
| Disability living allowance | 34 |
| Invalid care allowance | 16 |
| War pensions | 53 |
| Attendance allowance | 21 |
| Industrial injury, death and disability benefit | 22 |
| Jobseeker's allowance | 23 |
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 26 June 2002, Official Report, column 1058W, to the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner), on benefits (payment methods), in what order customers of particular benefits will be transferred to payment via automated credit transfer. [70413]
Malcolm Wicks: We will adopt a phased approach to transfer customers to payment into bank or building society accounts.
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