Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to tackle benefit fraud in areas where its prevalence is high.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

15. What steps he is taking to tackle benefit fraud in areas where its prevalence is high.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

I remind my hon. Friends of our inheritance from the previous Government: fraud and error in the benefit system were at £3.1 billion and progress had plateaued since 2005. The joint strategy with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs started in 2010 and included mobile regional taskforces to look at different areas. We are targeting claimants in high fraud areas with visits, phone calls and letters. One pilot has been completed in Birmingham and we have two more in Cardiff and Croydon. We will carry out evaluation once all three are completed. So far, since October, from case cleansing alone we have saved more than £100 million.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

We prosecuted almost 10,000 benefit fraudsters in 2010-11, up from 8,200 the year before. Of those, 86% were successfully convicted—[Interruption.] I would have thought that the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne) would like to keep quiet, because he has made one mistake already and is bound to put his foot in it again. We will push for the strongest possible sentences. In all cases, benefit fraudsters are required to pay back the money they have stolen.

[Stephen Mosley]

Benefit fraud is not just stealing from the taxpayer; it also leads to less money being available to those who are most in need. One measure that should deter benefit cheats is the one, two and three strikes rules. How successful does my right hon. Friend think that those rules will be in reducing benefit fraud?

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 14th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

The honest truth is that I do not think it a good idea for people to do that in the present climate. There is currently a public sector pay freeze, we are imposing limits on bonuses, and I am asking staff in one of the lower-paid areas of Government to forgo some of their future pay rises. My simple answer to the right hon. Gentleman is this: I wish that those who are thinking about acting in that way would think again, and I also wish that I had not been left in such an invidious position by the last Government.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

T2. Opposition Members have spent the past 50 minutes calling, in almost every question, for more Government spending, yet just nine months ago we famously heard the shadow Secretary of State say that there was no money left. Given the shadow Secretary of State’s willingness to offer honest advice, might my right hon. Friend reciprocate the favour and offer his own advice to his new opposite number?

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Given my political career, I have given up giving advice to anybody, so the best thing the shadow Secretary of State can do is forge his own way and I will look to see how I can dismantle that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 18th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the comprehensive spending review, but I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the wording of the coalition agreement, where we say that we are committed to protecting the winter fuel payment.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

6. What steps are being taken to improve the quality and accuracy of the work capability assessment.

[Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

9. What steps his Department is taking to improve the quality and accuracy of the work capability assessment.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)]

We believe that the work capability assessment is effective at identifying a person’s functional capability for work and work-related activity, and very much more so than its predecessor, the personal capability assessment. However, I am clear that we must get this right, particularly with the large-scale migration beginning next year. On taking office we implemented some of the recommendations of a review carried out under the previous Administration. I have commissioned a new review under the chairmanship of Professor Malcolm Harrington of Birmingham university, with input from some of the leading figures among the mental health charities, to try to make sure that we get this right—that we deal with any rough edges that there may be in the system before the migration next year.

[Stephen Mosley]

There are a number of conditions—for instance, MS—where the health of an individual may vary daily. What consideration has the Minister incorporated in the work capability assessment to ensure that the fluctuations in someone’s daily health do not affect their entitlement?

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Mosley Excerpts

Monday 14th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

The hon. Lady is right to point to the position of contracted staff. She will be aware that long-term private finance initiative contracts were entered into by the Labour Government which involve paying people less than the living wage. We have inherited that practice. However, I understand that Telereal Trillium, with which we have our principal contract, including for cleaners, has an agreement with the relevant trade unions to pay higher rates on new tenders.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

7. What steps he plans to take to reduce child poverty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Maria Miller)]

Section 14 of the coalition document confirms the Government’s commitment to ending child poverty in the UK. We believe that the best way to tackle this issue is to address the root causes of poverty, because it is only by doing this that we can improve outcomes for children in the most effective way. Over the next 12 months we will put in place a robust, sustainable strategy to end child poverty.

[Stephen Mosley]

It is impossible to look at the situation of a child without looking at their family situation. To that end may I highlight the pioneering work that is being done by Save the Family in Chester and north Wales under the leadership of Edna Speed MBE? Has the Minister any plans to encourage the expansion of such pioneering family-based schemes across the country?

[Maria Miller]

I thank my hon. Friend for bringing the important work of Save the Family to the attention of the House. I am familiar with the project in north Wales, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has visited it. Keeping families together is important, and I will do all I can to encourage colleagues who are considering child poverty across Government to consider the work being carried out by Save the Family. Family stability is vital and I am sure it will form part of the strategy that we work on to end child poverty.