I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. I commend the achievements of Thanet district council in tackling fraud. Indeed, I commend the efforts of my hon. Friend, who was the chair of finance at that local authority when the lamentable record of the Conservative administration at Thanet was being turned round.

A commendation from the benefit fraud inspectorate is based on careful and thorough analysis; it is not lightly given. Last week, I visited the BFI headquarters and was able to see for myself the thoroughness and detailed preparation that go into its important work in all the local authorities that are inspected.

As in the case of Thanet, the WBS—weekly benefit savings—system has encouraged local authorities to allocate adequate resources to the detection of fraud. That is to be welcomed. We will continue to use WBS with local authorities for some time yet, but we also need to encourage work on prevention; WBS focuses on detection. That is the central purpose of the verification framework, and we are funding local authorities £100 million to implement it.