Oral Answers to Questions

Dan Jarvis Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

We have made it clear—I have done so personally—to every provider that money should not be a barrier to participation in the pilots. We are experimenting with a range of models to gauge people’s willingness to pay for the value that the models add, but we have made it very clear to providers that money should not be a barrier to participation.

[Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)]

5. What progress his Department’s counter fraud taskforce has made in tackling benefit fraud.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

The National Fraud Authority estimates that £21 billion is lost to fraud in the public sector each year. In recent months, the counter fraud taskforce, which I chair, has overseen a series of small-scale pilots that have made immediate savings of £12 million in benefit and tax credit fraud, and which—when rolled out—will save £1.5 billion a year.

[Dan Jarvis]

I thank the Minister for his response, which, when compared with the Labour Government’s targets for benefit fraud reduction, signals an unambitious approach to tackling this serious problem. Why is that?