Clause 7 - Loss of benefit for commission of benefit offences
Social Security Fraud Bill [Lords]
5:30 pm
Professor Steve Webb (Northavon, Liberal Democrat)
The Minister says that the point of the provision is to send a signal, but to whom will it be sent? We are discussing war pensioners, and it is the suggestion that serial fraud among war pensioners is a real issue that has given offence. The provision will send the signal to war pensioners and their organisations that, in the opinion of the DSS, serial war pension fraud is a real, or potential, issue—but the evidence does not bear that out. There has been not a single conviction in the past six months, let alone a repeat one.
The Minister will be unsurprised to hear that I do not find his response convincing—and perhaps he himself does not. I am not sure whether I am at liberty to divide the Committee on this issue, but I hope that the House will be able to return to it in future.