Speeches by Western.

“I thank the shadow Minister for his question. I would not want to second-guess the specifics of what may be required in the sharing of information on a case-by-case basis; clearly that sort of speculation may restrict us unnecessarily. What I would say, however, is that the independent oversight powers laid out for the…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. Clause 5 is an explanation of the principles related to information sharing that pertain to the Public Sector Fraud Authority and the Cabinet Office. It sets out how the disclosure of information would work for the purpose of facilitating the Minister’s e…”

“I am sure that colleagues will agree that the amendment is straightforward. It will limit the designation of the Cabinet Office as a relevant public authority for the purposes of part 3 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, so that it is designated only in so far as it relates to the Public Sector Fraud Authority. Clau…”

“Let me begin by congratulating the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire (Ian Sollom) on securing this debate, which is incredibly important to him and his constituents. I hope that I will assure him in my contribution that it is important to the Government too. Far too many children are growing up in poverty…”

“The hon. Member will have heard me say that we are looking at all available levers across those four areas. We rule nothing in and nothing out, but I understand his point. We are aware of the challenges that the CMS faces and recognise that there is scope for improvement. The ministerial team as a whole is committed to…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He has a long history of working not just on CMS issues but on child poverty more broadly, and his expertise is of great value to the House. I will say a little more about domestic abuse and financial abuse later in my contribution, but I reassure him that the focus we had i…”

“I can see the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) trying to come in. I will beat him to it and give way.”

“I absolutely understand the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. With specific reference to named caseworkers, initially for victims of domestic abuse, I will have something further to say that I think he and all hon. Members will welcome, but I take his more general point. If I may make some progress, turning to d…”

“I should have known that my hon. Friend would be in his place. He is keen on an Adjournment debate—we all know that. This is where I out myself as an imposter, because I am not the Minister with direct responsibility for the CMS, but I am very happy to put him in touch with the Department’s Minister in the House of Lor…”

“All the powers pertaining to the DWP—the five principal areas in the DWP’s proposals—so information gathering, debt recovery, penalties reform, powers of search and seizure, and EVM. Joshua Reddaway: Okay. To step back, we have been looking at a general trend of rising levels of benefit fraud for a few years. Actually,…”

“I will not ask any more questions, but I just say to Rick that I think it might be helpful for a follow-up conversation to take place. Without wishing to get into a protracted argument, there were some things that I did not recognise as part of the Bill, but clearly that is how people are feeling and how the people you…”

“Q Just to test that a little further, were we to do anything in the prevent space on fraud and error that sought to increase the safeguards and checks in place for all benefit claimants, is it your view that all of those would directly discriminate against disabled people because they are over-represented in the cohort…”

“Q I would argue that we are accepting a different level of checking on the eligibility verification measure for everybody in receipt of those benefits. I would be perfectly happy to accept that there may be some indirect discrimination against disabled people by virtue of the fact that they are over-represented in the …”

“Q Could I come back on the last point you made, Rick, and the suggestion that this treats disabled people as a distinct part of the population under different rules and measures. The Bill targets the three benefits that have the highest levels of fraud and error at present: universal credit, pension credit and employme…”

“Q Finally, Anna, you talked early on about the importance of everybody being treated fairly, and I absolutely agree. Would you accept that one of the principal drivers for us acting in this way is an inherent unfairness in the system at the moment, whereby we are able to directly deduct from benefit claimants and those…”

“Q I am really encouraged by what you said about the engagement you have had with the Department on how we make the Bill workable and supported. I also very much agree with your comments about the support and encouragement available for people to reach out to MoneyHelper and other sites. Can you reflect on the way that …”

“Q What I am saying is that there would not be suspicion, because we would have absolutely no way of knowing. Is it your position that we should not attempt to address that issue, because there can never be a suspicion of what somebody has in their bank account without looking? Jasleen Chaggar: I think that there are wa…”

“Q Given that we have no way of knowing if somebody is in breach of the capital limit once they have given their word that that is not the case, how would you suggest that we detect that particular form of fraud where there is no suspicion of fraud because we do not know what somebody has in their bank account? Jasleen …”

“Q I have one further question then, which is about the role that you perceive for banks and financial institutions in tackling fraud in the social security system. Could you ever countenance a scenario in which that would be of value and worth while? Jasleen Chaggar: Absolutely. We believe as much as anyone that fraud …”

“Q Thank you. I have a final question, which is about an assertion that you made towards the beginning of your contribution. As I understood it, you said that the eligibility verification measure was circular because if a flag was placed on an account, we could then just request the bank account statements. To clarify, …”