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Benefit Fraud (East Dunbartonshire Council)

On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) inspection report on East Dunbartonshire council was published on 11 August 2005 and is available in the Library. In 2004–05, East Dunbartonshire council administered some £48 million in housing benefits, about 31 per cent. of its gross revenue expenditure. The council was selected for a focused inspection of claims administration because it reported that it was taking 92 days to process new claims for the quarter ending 30 September 2004. BFI found that the council did not meet any of the performance standards relating to claims processing, but the sample of cases that BFI examined showed that it was processing new claims in an average of 42 days against the standard of 36. The figure of 92 days that the council had been reporting was wrong because the council had made errors in processing and data input, leading to overstatements of the time taken to process claims. Existing arrangements to monitor the delivery of targets and plans do not provide sufficient assurance about the levels of performance actually being achieved. The council's claim form did not meet the requirements of the Department's HCTB1 claim form. The council had adopted the Department's Verification Framework but to comply with the framework improvements need to be made. BFI noted a clear commitment to improve performance. The council plans to implement all of the recommendations made in the BFI report. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for its proposals in response to BFI's findings.