Work and Pensions – in the House of Commons at on 17 March 2025.
Markus Campbell-Savours
Labour, Penrith and Solway
What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle fraud in the welfare system by serious and organised criminal gangs.
Andrew Western
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department works collaboratively with other Departments and with law enforcement agencies on investigations of benefit fraud carried out by organised criminal gangs. New powers in the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, which was mentioned earlier by the Minister for Employment, will strengthen our ability to tackle organised crime by modernising and enhancing our investigation powers, granting DWP officials powers of search and seizure, and ensuring that those who defraud the public sector face appropriate consequences.
Markus Campbell-Savours
Labour, Penrith and Solway
I welcome the new powers in the fraud Bill, and note the huge increase in pension credit fraud in recent years. Can the Minister explain how capital fraud and fraud in which recipients stay out of the country for longer than the rules require, which together account for 50% of all pension credit fraud, will be targeted under the new rules?
Andrew Western
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. The eligibility verification measure in the new Bill will do just that, providing a crucial data feed to help us identify fraud that relates to pension credit as well as to universal credit and employment and support allowance. This will flag up claimants who are potentially in breach of eligibility under capital and abroad criteria, so that we can start to lower the unacceptable level of fraud and protect the public purse.
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It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
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War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
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