Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lee Pitcher and Andrew Western

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)]

T9. What assessment has the Minister made of recent trends in the level of fraud in the welfare system, because every £1 lost to fraud is £1 that should have gone to our schools, to our hospitals or on the future of our residents?

[Andrew Western]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The assessment I have made is of a trend that is up, up, up after 14 years of the Conservative party failing to act. We lost £9.7 billion in fraud and error in the Department for Work and Pensions last year, and we have lost £35 billion since the pandemic. That is too much, which is why I hope colleagues will support the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill on Second Reading later.