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Dept for Work and Pensions

Answer

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies with access to national insurance records were (i) disciplined, (ii) resigned and (iii) dismissed as a result of improprieties concerning their use of this access in 2000-01. [54718] Malcolm Wicks: The Department treats very seriously any suspicions of unauthorised access by its officers and takes firm action in any cases that arise. Information on the number of cases in 2000-01 where misconduct was identified is in the table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number of cases Benefits Agency 50 Departmental directorates 1 War Pensions Agency 0 Child Support Agency 2 The Appeals Service 0 Employment Service 7 Total 60 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: DWP was only formed in 2001-02 and the Employment Service was formerly part of the Department for Education and Employment. Information on the outcomes of cases in 2000-01 is in the following table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Disciplinary penalty Dismissed Resigned Other Benefits Agency 28 12 9 {1}1 Departmental directorates 1 0 0 0 War Pensions Agency 0 0 0 0 Child Support Agency 0 2 0 0 The Appeals Service 0 0 0 0 Employment Service 4 2 1 0 Total 33 16 10 1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} No formal action was taken.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

54718; 386 c296W;386 c295-6W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Disciplinary proceedings Department for Work and Pensions Dismissal Misconduct National insurance Staff Resignations

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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