Clause 4 - Claims: supplementary
Tax Credits Bill
12:45 pm
Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere, Conservative)
Before my hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs responds to the Minister's comments, I will take issue with some of her points. Her response was in many ways understandable and not unexpected, but I am not sure that she did justice to the principle that lies behind the amendment. I do not accept the view, which seemed implicit in her response, that a personal interview does not do any good in tackling fraud. That is not in keeping with other Government policy,
in which they postulate the benefits of interviews. For example, the Government require applicants to have job-focused interviews, although that is in a different context and not necessarily to deal with fraud. There are benefits in seeing someone in person, and in that context, Mr. Wray—