Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with a criminal conviction for benefit fraud were given a (a) custodial and (b) non-custodial sentence for that fraud in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested to answer the 3 questions is shown below.
(30342 & 30344)
In response to cases prosecuted in court and the number of people convicted for benefit fraud (a) and (b) the statistics for England and Wales can be found using this link:–
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014
(Select and open “Outcomes by offence tables” under fraud offences you will find:
53.3 Benefit fraud offences - triable either way)
The statistics for Scotland can be found using this link:-
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/02/6001
(Table 4a provides statistics on all convictions broken down by crime type; this includes a specific category for fraud).
(30342) How many cases of benefit fraud were identified in each of the last three years.
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
(30343) Whilst the department does have some information, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received a criminal conviction for defrauding (a) £0 to £1,000, (b) £1,101 to £5,000, (c) £5,001 to £10,000 and (d) over £10,000 in benefits in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested to answer the 3 questions is shown below.
(30342 & 30344)
In response to cases prosecuted in court and the number of people convicted for benefit fraud (a) and (b) the statistics for England and Wales can be found using this link:–
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014
(Select and open “Outcomes by offence tables” under fraud offences you will find:
53.3 Benefit fraud offences - triable either way)
The statistics for Scotland can be found using this link:-
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/02/6001
(Table 4a provides statistics on all convictions broken down by crime type; this includes a specific category for fraud).
(30342) How many cases of benefit fraud were identified in each of the last three years.
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
(30343) Whilst the department does have some information, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people found to be committing benefit fraud and not prosecuted in court in each of the last two years (a) have repaid monies due in full, (b) are actively making repayments, (c) are in arrears with their repayments and (d) have since been prosecuted for breaching their agreement to pay.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Information in the form requested for questions a, b and c is not readily available and could only be compiled at disproportionate cost.
In answer to question d, the Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of benefit fraud were identified in each of the last three years; and what proportion of such cases were prosecuted in court.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested to answer the 3 questions is shown below.
(30342 & 30344)
In response to cases prosecuted in court and the number of people convicted for benefit fraud (a) and (b) the statistics for England and Wales can be found using this link:–
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014
(Select and open “Outcomes by offence tables” under fraud offences you will find:
53.3 Benefit fraud offences - triable either way)
The statistics for Scotland can be found using this link:-
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/02/6001
(Table 4a provides statistics on all convictions broken down by crime type; this includes a specific category for fraud).
(30342) How many cases of benefit fraud were identified in each of the last three years.
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
(30343) Whilst the department does have some information, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of disability living allowance claimants have received an NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment to date.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Information on whether claimants of Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment have received an NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment is not centrally recorded and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment claimants have received an NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment to date.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Information on whether claimants of Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment have received an NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment is not centrally recorded and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the benefit cap on the number of workless households.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer the hon.Member to the answer I gave today to Oral Question UIN 901933
The benefit cap is having a long term positive impact on people’s lives, and encouraging them to find work.
Over 60,000 households have been capped since April 2013. As of May 2015, over 40,000 households were no longer subject to the benefit cap. Of those, 16,300 households moved into work.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people who have committed benefit fraud whose cases were not prosecuted in court (a) have repaid, (b) are repaying, (c) are in arrears with repayments of and (d) have been subsequently prosecuted for breaching their agreement to repay those benefits and any financial penalties in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
This information is not readily accessible within the time available.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to review the process for applying for funeral payments.
Answered by Steve Webb
We are currently taking steps to improve the scheme and will continue to monitor its effectiveness.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on the freezing of state pensions for those living overseas.
Answered by Steve Webb
The UK state pension is payable worldwide. However, where a recipient is not ordinarily resident in the UK, eligibility for annual up-rates is generally restricted to people living in a country which is a member of the European Economic Area, including by extension Switzerland, or in a country with which the UK has a bilateral social security agreement that provides for up-rating of the UK state pension. A list of these countries can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pensions-annual-increases-if-you-live-abroad
Restricting the availability of annual up-rates to the UK state pensions in this manner has been the long standing policy of successive Governments. This Government has no plans to change it.