Member

My noble friend Lord Davies asked for a sense of scale. When it comes to the nature of fraud, no single measure is a silver bullet. No one thing will get rid of all fraud. However, this important measure will make a significant difference. This measure alone, as scored by the OBR, is expected to save up to £940 million over the next five years, with additional savings beyond that. That is a significant sum of money. Therefore, the judgment is on whether the action that we are taking is proportionate to the scale and to the contribution that this could make in tackling overpayments of different kinds. We believe that it is. I respect the fact that my noble friend takes a different view, but the Government’s argument is that this measure is proportionate to the nature of the challenge and the alternatives available; that is our case. To restrict it in this way would mean, in effect, having to have a suspicion of fraud before we even had the information. The DWP manifestly cannot suspect fraud before it has even been established that a benefit has been overpaid.