Contribution
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this short debate and I welcome the Committee to Part 2 of the PAFER Bill. We are on to the DWP and it will be a joy to travel in this ship together with my happy fellow travellers. Before answering the specifics of the amendment, I want to reflect on some of the comments made by my noble friend Lord Sikka, because he helpfully highlighted a couple of the confusions that have permeated some of the discussion around the Bill.
The Bill contains a number of different measures and, in most cases, they apply to different people. In his speech, my noble friend spoke as though these information-gathering powers applied to all those people to whom, for example, an eligibility verification notice will be sent. In fact, that is not the case at all. A number of the amendments coming up next are about the eligibility verification measure, so I will return to any comments about it then. These information-gathering powers are quite different. They are specifically aimed at people of whom there is a reasonable suspicion of fraud by a named individual. This is a particular category of person.
Clause 72 makes provision for expanded information-gathering powers. There are existing powers in the Social Security Administration Act 1992, but they enable DWP to compel information only from a set list of organisations. That approach is restrictive and can delay or prevent the gathering of information that is relevant to proving or disproving a criminal benefit fraud investigation. So new Section 109BZB, inserted into the 1992 Act by this Bill, will update those powers to enable DWP to obtain relevant information from any information holder in respect of a DWP criminal investigation. That kind of information can be vital in proving or disproving an allegation of fraud.
Amendments 76 and 78, tabled by my noble friend Lord Sikka, concern liability for incorrect or incomplete information provided by an information holder in response to an information notice. The Bill is clear that information providers must comply with the information notice and should also be aware of their own data protection obligations in doing so. Information about those obligations will be included in the code of practice, and the information notice must specify the potential consequences for failing to comply.
Section 111 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 sets out offences for intentionally failing to provide required information, as well as delaying or obstructing an authorised officer. In those circumstances, DWP can take action. So introducing a separate statutory liability for all errors is not necessary and would, in my view, actually place an unfair burden on information holders, particularly when mistakes are unintentional or minor.
Amendment 77, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, would insert “reasonably” into subsection (1)(b) of new Section 109BZB. I hope to persuade the noble Lord that we in fact have a very good case here. I think that it will be easier to write. There may be some disagreement about his comments about JOYS—this will be another theme, I think; I suspect that “Ode to Joy” jokes and other joy jokes will abound. But I will write, because I want to talk specifically about the amendment that he has tabled today and how that affects the DWP parts of the Bill.
The current drafting of subsections (1)(a) and (1)(b) of new Section 109BZB in Clause 72 sets out that, prior to issuing an information notice, an authorised officer must have “reasonable grounds to suspect” that a DWP offence has been committed and must consider it “necessary and proportionate” to require the information. Both those steps have to happen, so I would argue that the drafting already captures the intent of the amendment. We have been doing this for some time. The department already has these information-gathering powers, with well-established training and guidance in place to ensure that they are used appropriately and in line with the existing law.
Authorised officers are trained and accredited before they can use those powers and they have to adhere to the code of practice. The existing guidance makes it clear that they have to consider all the facts, justify their decisions and record their reasoning. That will apply in the same way to the new expanded powers as it does to the current powers. For those reasons, we are confident that the principle of reasonableness is clear in the drafting of Clause 72 and we further support it. I can see that the noble Lord is itching to get to his feet.