Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether police forces have access to Government data on benefit payments in order to assist in locating wanted persons.

Police forces do not routinely have access to government data on benefit payments. If benefit data is required in order to assist with locating wanted
persons, it can be requested from the appropriate government department. Each request is carefully considered on a case-by-case basis to ensure compliance
with the relevant legislation, including the Data Protection Act 1998.

There is a memorandum of understanding between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) for
disclosures that determine how the DWP provides data. All requests are managed through a central disclosure unit on a case-by case-basis. ACPO do not have
direct access to the data.