Monday 4th September 2023

(1 year, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Guy Opperman Portrait Guy Opperman
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I can only repeat that, compared with 2009-10, there are 400,000 fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs.

Mark Fletcher Portrait Mark Fletcher (Bolsover) (Con)
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14. What recent progress his Department has made on tackling benefit fraud.

Mel Stride Portrait The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)
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We continue to bear down on fraud and error. It decreased by 10% in 2022-23. There is of course still more to be done, which is why we are investing £900 million to reduce that figure still further by £2.4 billion by 2024-25.

Mark Fletcher Portrait Mark Fletcher
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During the pandemic, the Government rightly got support out to people as quickly as possible, but that inevitably meant that errors were made and some people took advantage of the situation. What is being done to clamp down on fraud and errors in universal credit?