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Landlord Benefit Fraud
11. Helen Jones: What proposals she has to tackle organised landlord benefit fraud. [23062]
Mr. Field: The initiatives include new powers for local authorities to collect information, a new criminal offence, and a new power for local authorities and central Government to share information when they attempt to crack down on fraud.
Helen Jones: I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. I used to prosecute Department of Social Security fraud and I am reluctant to deprive my ex-colleagues of a chance to follow up cases in the courts. However,
does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way in which to tackle fraud is to prevent it from happening in the first place? What plans does he have to identify areas where fraud is most likely to occur and to target resources at those areas?
Mr. Field: As my hon. Friend suggests, our plans are to ensure that counter-fraud measures are built in at the start of any benefit claim. May I stress that, while the Government attach enormous importance to countering benefit fraud, we attach equal importance to seeking out diligently those who are eligible for benefit but not claiming it. We run both those policies in tandem, which is one of the many factors that distinguish us from the Opposition.
Child Benefit
12. Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: If she will make a statement on the future of child benefit. [23063]
Mr. Field: I remind the right hon. Lady of the two commitments made in our manifesto.
Mrs. Bottomley: When I worked for the right hon. Gentleman 27 years ago, we campaigned to protect children from the Chancellor's threats. Will he give an undertaking to work as hard and to fight with as much determination today to protect children from the Chancellor's menaces? I have not changed my mind about the importance of recognising the extra costs and needs of children at every income level. Has the right hon. Gentleman changed his mind?
Mr. Field: I have not changed my mind, but when the right hon. Lady and I worked at the Child Poverty Action Group, we were both trying to protect family allowance--it is now called child benefit--from a Tory Chancellor.
Mr. David Heath: In view of the Secretary of State's well-publicised concerns, how many women who are millionaires draw child benefit?
Mr. Field: If the hon. Gentleman would like to table a question on that specific point, I shall try to find the answer.
Mrs. Gillan: Does the Minister realise that working mothers throughout the country have been seriously alarmed at the recent report in The Times of 15 January that, in order to tax child benefit and cap maternity benefit, the Chancellor may end the independent taxation of women? Does he agree that abandoning separate taxation would further undermine the institution of marriage and make it more tax advantageous to cohabit? Will he now rule that out completely to set working mothers' minds at rest?
Mr. Field: Traditionally, taxation issues are the province of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Disability Benefits
13. Mr. Winnick: If she will make a statement on proposed changes to disability benefits. [23064]
19. Ms Christine Russell: If she will report progress on welfare reform with particular reference to disability benefits. [23070]
Ms Harman: Benefits for people with sickness and disabilities are part of our review of the social security system. We shall come forward with proposals later in the year and they will be followed by full consultation.
Mr. Winnick: Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is important to reassure disabled people that their position will not be worsened?
Ms Harman: I do agree with my hon. Friend. It is very important to reassure disabled people that their position will not be worsened--far from it. Two principles drive our social security review in respect of people with health problems or disabilities. The first is to ensure that those who cannot work have the right support, whether it is cash or services, or a combination of the two. The second is to ensure that we do not follow the path of the previous Government, who told people with health problems and disabilities that, even though they might have some capacity to work and might want to work, they would be written off to a life on benefits. Our approach is to extend opportunities to people with ill health or disabilities. We are backing that with £195 million of investment in innovative schemes so that the minority--it is, however, a significant minority--of those who are long-term sick or disabled can have attention paid to their needs and can be supported in getting into, and staying in, work.
Ms Russell: Before I was elected to the House, I worked with people, most of whom had learning disabilities. I am still in close touch with them and, last week, I had a meeting with representatives of DIAL house in Chester. I am sure that my right hon. Friend is familiar with that organisation. Given the concern fuelled by all the scaremongering in the media, will my right hon. Friend give a categorical assurance that, before any key decisions are finally taken, there will be full consultation with organisations such as the Disability Benefits Consortium and the DIAL network?
Ms Harman: I am happy to give my hon. Friend a categorical assurance that the organisations that she mentioned and many others will be fully consulted. I want to allay her concerns. She raised the important issue of the prospects in adult life of people with learning disabilities, which is of particular concern to them and to their carers. Although we provide a proper framework and many opportunities for people with learning difficulties while they are of school age, many of them are written off when they reach school-leaving age. They feel that they cannot continue to develop, and their parents feel a sense of desperation and worry about whether there will be any framework for the lives of their sons or daughters when they are not around to care for them. We must ensure that we take account of people's abilities and capacities as well as their disabilities and incapacities, and we must
provide opportunities for all. The days when people were told, "You've got an incapacity. You've got a disability. You're written off. Here's some money"--
Madam Speaker: Order. All the right hon. Lady was asked for was a categorical assurance. I have to take two more questions on this subject.
Mr. Amess: Is the right hon. Lady aware that, judging by the number of telephone calls and letters that I have received, my constituents in Southend, West already believe that this rotten Labour Government are cutting disability benefit? Will she explain to the House why, since 1 May, many of my severely disabled constituents have been called in by doctors for further examination and have had their benefits taken away? If they have gone to appeal, their cases have taken an awfully long time to be heard.
Ms Harman: That is another first-rate example of--I do not want to use an unparliamentary word--synthetic concern. The hon. Gentleman is referring to the benefit integrity project, which was crafted, fashioned and consulted on by the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr. Lilley) when he was Secretary of State for Social Security. If the hon. Gentleman wants to get into a lather about this issue, he has missed the boat. Our approach is to keep a careful eye on the benefit integrity project to ensure that people on disability living allowance receive the right amount of that benefit under the current conditions of entitlement. However, that has nothing to do with our review of benefits for the long-term sick and disabled, so the hon. Gentleman's argument does not wash.
Mr. Collins: Will the Secretary of State clarify whether the purpose of her review is to reduce spending on people with disabilities?
Ms Harman: The purpose of our review is to ensure the right level of care and support for those who cannot work, and to ensure maximum opportunities for those who can work. The exercise is driven by principle, not by cuts.
Status of Women (Commission)
17. Siobhain McDonagh: If she will make a statement on the planned meeting of the commission on the status of women in March. [23068]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security (Ms Joan Ruddock): As part of our focus on women during our presidency of the European Union, I am pleased to announce that I will be heading the EU delegation at the next annual meeting of the United Nations commission on the status of women, which will be held in New York in March. I will be working with women's organisations and our EU partners to ensure that we represent the views of European women.
Siobhain McDonagh: I thank the Minister for that reply. The commission will consider violence against women. Today is the launch of domestic violence week in my borough of Merton. Although services are available, women who suffer from domestic violence, and the doctors, nurses and health visitors, who may be the first people with whom those women come into contact,
often do not know what help is provided. Will my hon. Friend ensure that consideration is given to finding ways in which to inform everyone, across the board and not on a departmental basis, about what services are available?
Ms Ruddock: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. I can assure her not only that action to prevent violence against women is one of the major priorities of the Ministers for Women, but that it is part of the United Nations platform for action on women.
By raising the issues in an international forum, we can ensure that we contribute to the dialogue, and make it possible for women throughout the world to understand that we are all concerned about the violence that is inflicted on them and will tackle it. In this country we, as Ministers for Women, are already working across Government with our colleagues to ensure that we deliver better services, and that every woman who is subjected to violence is confident that she can come forward, be treated with respect and gain the support that she needs if she has to go to court--and, indeed, after court.
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