Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which credit reference agencies his Department has engaged in housing benefit claim verification in the last financial year; and for what purpose each such agency was engaged.

The Department has not engaged any credit reference agencies in Housing Benefit claims in the last financial year. Individual local authorities are free to make their own local arrangements for the administration of Housing Benefit and some may use credit reference agencies to verify claims. We do not collect information on this.