Oral Answers to Questions

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

We will continue to bear down on the level of unemployment. As the hon. Lady knows, economic inactivity has reduced, and we have 300,000 fewer people in economic inactivity than at the peak during the pandemic. We have a plan. Is it not the reality that the Opposition have no plan and no ideas as to how to get those numbers down? We do, and it is working.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of fraud and error in the welfare system.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)]

In 2022-23, fraud and error fell by 10%. We are investing £900 million in addition to that which we have already put forward to prevent £2.4 billion of fraud and error by 2024-25.

[Nigel Mills]

I thank the Secretary of State for his answer and welcome the measures the Government are taking. On the new powers to search through bank accounts to look for fraudulent transactions, can he confirm that the Government will seek to use them only where fraud is suspected and will not, as some people have suggested, search every state pensioner’s bank account to look for something that almost certainly will not be there?

[Mel Stride]

I thank my hon. Friend for what is a very important question, because there has been a great deal of scaremongering about what exactly these powers are about. I can make it categorically clear from the Dispatch Box that these powers are there to make sure that, in instances where there is a clear signal of fraud or error, my Department is able to take action. In the absence of that, it will not.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mel Stride]

As the hon. Lady will know, these are matters for the Treasury, and specifically for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He and I have conversations on these matters and others. Announcements will be made in due course, but of course the household support fund will be in place until the end of March.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

T7. At this time of year, the Department gives benefit recipients a generous Christmas gift of £10, which has not been increased for, I think, 51 years. Will the Secretary of State look to make it at least £20 next year, to help people a bit more with the extra costs at Christmas?