Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) reduce fraud within the benefits system.

The Department takes benefit fraud very seriously. We have taken further steps to reduce and minimise fraud and error during the past 18 months at a time where the Department processed an additional 3 million new Universal Credit claims.

We are continuing to expand our Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service that coordinates the detection of, and response to, fraud risks from organised crime groups seeking to exploit the benefit system. This included preventing a large attack in May 2020, stopping substantial sums being paid out to scammers and led to a number of arrests.

This has been further expanded, following investment at the Spring Budget and Spending Review, to further develop pre-payment ‘risking’ techniques and maintain our new Enhanced Checking Service for high risk claims.

We have also revisited more than 900,000 high risk claims paid during the early period of COVID-19, which has generated over £400m in potential savings. Where fraud is established, we are committed to the use of appropriate penalties and to recovering monies from the perpetrators.

We also continue to work with other Government departments and law enforcement agencies nationally and across borders to ensure appropriate intelligence and resources are shared, enabling the totality of any criminality to be identified and investigated