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Dept for Work and Pensions

Answer

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff are employed by Jobcentre Plus on anti-fraud work; and how many people were employed in total on this work in the two predecessor departments. [74846] Malcolm Wicks: The overall aim of the Department's anti-fraud strategy is to have a benefit system, which is secure from first claim to final payment. The implementation of this strategy means that an anti-fraud focus is integral to the work of all staff in the Department, as is dealing with the wider agenda of error and incorrectness in benefit payments. When the Department for Work and Pensions was established, the Employment Service, which was an Agency of the former Department for Education and Employment, did not have any staff dealing specifically with benefit fraud. The information currently available suggests that, over recent years, around 5,000 staff have been employed by the Department and its agencies in work to investigate suspicions of fraud. However, taking account of changes in data collection measures over time and the integration of investigators more fully with frontline staff, it is clear to me we need to improve the validity of and reliability of year on year comparisons, and I have asked the Department to undertake further work on this. I have concluded that it is not possible to make valid comparisons between figures year-on-year. I have therefore asked the Department to undertake a review to improve the consistency of centrally collected information for the future.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

74846; 392 c660-1W;392 c674-5W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Abuse Department for Work and Pensions Fraud Jobcentres Staff Social security benefits

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk