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Benefit Fraud

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department and its agencies have been (a) disciplined, (b) suspended, (c) dismissed, (d) prosecuted and (e) convicted for

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matters relating to benefit fraud in the current year and each of the previous three years; how much was (i) defrauded and (ii) recovered in each case, broken down by type of benefit; at what level in his Department and its agencies the decision is made on whether (A) to take no action, (B) to take internal disciplinary action or (C) to prosecute; what the policy of his Department and its agencies on the prosecution of staff suspected of benefit fraud is; and if he will make a statement. [88474]

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Malcolm Wicks: Information is not available in the exact form requested. Such information that is available is shown in the tables. The tables show value of fraud, the outcome of investigation activity and the benefit subjected to the fraud. Information on amounts recovered is not routinely captured centrally. It is normal practice to recover wrongly paid sums. This can either be through the courts following prosecution or through departmental action.

Staff Involvement in benefit fraud

Case number	Value of fraud (£)	Outcome(69)	Benefit type
1999–2000
1	210,000	Prosecution resulting in custodial sentence	Income support
2	30,000	Prosecution	Income support
3	75.80	Officer dismissed	Income support
4	1,753.00	Prosecution resulting in probation and community service	Income support
5	4,462.97	Information no longer available	Income support/jobseekers allowance
6	8,820.77	Prosecution resulting in custodial sentence	Jobseekers allowance
7	144.20	Officer resigned	Incapacity benefit
8	134.41	Officer resigned	Incapacity benefit
9	4,224.28	Officer resigned	Incapacity benefit/disability living allowance
10	957.56	Prosecution resulting in fine	Family credit
11	17,880.80	Prosecution resulting in 150 hours community service order	Family credit
12	1,947.08	Information no longer available	Family credit
13	3,690.80	Officer dismissed	Invalid care allowance
14	3,255.54	Officer dismissed	Housing benefit
15	3,186.00	Officer resigned	Housing benefit
Total	290,533.21
2000–01
1	3,963.00	Disciplinary action not yet completed	Income support
2	4,272.33	Officer resigned	Income support
3	218.57	No disciplinary action taken	Income support
4	887.18	Prosecuted, conditional discharge officer resigned	Jobseekers allowance
5	426.14	Formal reprimand for five years	Family credit
6	1,807.10	Downgraded, formal reprimand and promotion bar	Family credit
7	3,697.06	Information no longer available	Housing benefit
8	2,820.18	Prosecuted by Police resulting in community service and order to repay	Housing benefit
9	7,631.37	Prosecuted resulting in probation and community service	Housing benefit
10	2,140.00	Information no longer available	Housing benefit
11	9,535.84	Prosecution resulting in community service and probation	Incapacity benefit
Total	37,398.77
2001–02
1	2,346.00	Written reprimand valid for 5 years	Income support
2	2,660.72	Officer dismissed	Housing benefit council tax benefit
3	5,000.00	Officer resigned	Income support/incapacity benefit
4	2,904.00	Officer resigned	Income support
5	3,005.00	Officer dismissed	Income support working families tax credit
6	180,000	Prosecution resulting in custodial sentence	Incapacity benefit
Total	195,915.72
2002–032
1	1,807.00	Formal reprimand, downgraded, promotion ban for 2 years	Family credit
2	5,300.00	Officer dismissed	Incapacity benefit
Total to date	7,107.00

⁽⁶⁹⁾ Following prosecution, disciplinary action is taken and may lead to dismissal.

⁽⁷⁰⁾ There are limited details available for the current financial year, as a number of potential cases of benefit fraud involving staff have not been concluded.

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Departmental Policy on prosecution in benefit fraud cases.

For any cases of staff suspected of benefit fraud the decision maker would be at least a Deputy District Manager (Grade 7 or SMPB2) and they would decide whether or not to take any internal disciplinary action.

The Department's policy on prosecution in relation to benefit fraud considers various factors. However, where the person involved was in a position of trust such as a member of staff, prosecution would always be considered.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the total amount of fraud by each category of benefit in (a) the latest year available and (b) 1996–97; and if he will make a statement on the Government's strategy to reduce benefit fraud. [101515]

Malcolm Wicks: Our estimates of levels of fraud and error in income support and jobseeker's allowance are published in the series of reports "Fraud and Error in Claims for Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance" which are placed in the Library.

In April 2001 we also set up the housing benefit review which will deliver an on-going measurement of fraud and error in housing benefit. Fraud in other benefits is examined in our programme of National Benefit Reviews.

Our current estimate is that £2 billion is lost annually through all benefit fraud. We do not break this figure into separate benefit categories nor hold figures for previous years.

We are taking positive action to reduce fraud by making it harder to commit fraud, improving detection of fraud, and deterring those who might be thinking of committing fraud.

We have made excellent progress in the fight against fraud and error. By March 2002 we had reduced fraud and error in income support and jobseeker's allowance by 24 per cent., significantly outperforming our target of 10 per cent.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 9 December 2002, Official Report, column135W, how many custodial and non-custodial punishments were imposed in (a) 2001–02, and (b) each of the previous three years, broken down by type of disposal; and in how many cases in each year the offender was ordered to pay compensation. [89918]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not available. Pursuant to the answer given to the hon. Member on 9 December 2002, Official Report, column 135W, corrected figures are shown in the tables.

	Targeting Fraud Website (launched May 2000)
Period	Investigations completed	Successful prosecutions
May 2000 to March 2001	184	0
April 2001 to March 2002	673	4
April 2002 to December 2002	828	14

Source of information:

Fraud Information By Sector system

⁽⁷¹⁾

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National Benefit Fraud Hotline⁽⁷³⁾

Period	Investigations completed	Successful prosecutions
1999–2000	28,582	335
2000–01	33,134	492
2001–02	32,943	703
April–December 2002	25,081	546

Source of information:

National Benefit Fraud Hotline

⁽⁷²⁾ The fraud database shows completed cases commenced in the relevant period. Due to the elapsed time between commencement of an investigation and completion of a prosecution there are cases that are inserted into previously completed data for earlier periods. All totals are therefore correct at the time when quoted but subject to adjustment at a later date.

⁽⁷³⁾ Full information on the number of investigations and successful prosecutions resulting from calls to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline is available only from April 1999.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many persons have been gaoled for benefit fraud since 1997. [101551]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is in the table.

Custodial sentences⁽⁷⁴⁾following investigations by Departmental Investigators

	Number
1997–98	551
1998–99	643
1999–2000	636
2000–01	653
2001–02	646

⁽⁷⁴⁾ Imprisonment, Young Offenders Institute or custodial and fine.

Source:

Fraud Information By Sector and data from Counter-Fraud Investigation Division (Operations)

⁽⁷⁵⁾

⁽⁷⁶⁾ The fraud database shows completed cases commenced in the relevant period. Due to the elapsed time between commencement of an investigation and completion of a prosecution there are cases that are inserted into previously completed data for earlier periods. All totals are therefore correct at the time when quoted but subject to adjustment at a later date.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the amount of benefit fraud in each year from 1990–91 to 2002–03 (estimated) (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) housing benefit, (ii) council tax benefit, (iii) disability benefit, (iv) pensions and (v) jobseeker's allowance; and if he will make a statement. [97354]

Malcolm Wicks: Our most recent estimate is that £2 billion is lost annually through benefit fraud in Great Britain.

We have in place systems to provide an on-going measurement of loss in the three main income-related benefits Income support, jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit that between them account for about two-thirds of the fraud loss. The levels of fraud and error in income support and jobseeker's allowance are published in the "Area Benefit Review and the Quality Support Team reports on Fraud and Error in Claims for Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance", copies of which are in the Library. The first publication of findings from the housing benefit review is expected in autumn 2003. Our programme of National Benefit Reviews provides snapshot estimates of the level of

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fraud in other benefits, most recently covering incapacity benefit in 2000 and has been placed in the Library.

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