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1146576

registered interest
date	26/09/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Carbon Emissions: British Overseas Territories
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether her Department plans to include carbon emissions from UK Overseas Territories in its carbon accounting processes for the Paris Agreement.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291441
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department is consulting with UK Overseas Territories as to whether they would like to have the UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement extended to them. For those UK Overseas Territories that so choose, the Department will work with them to ensure they are ready to implement the Paris Agreement and to regularly report to the Department on that implementation.</p><p> </p><p>Under the accounting and transparency rules for the Paris Agreement agreed at COP24 in December 2018, any UK Overseas Territories included in the geographic scope of UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement in future will also need to be included in the UK’s accounting for and regular reporting on emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.</p><p> </p><p>The UK was the first major economy in the world to legislate for a net zero target. The target is enshrined under the Climate Change Act 2008 which does not apply to UK Overseas Territories.</p> answering member constituency Spelthorne answering member printed Kwasi Kwarteng grouped question UIN 291443 question first answered 01/10/2019 15:12:15 answering member 4134 label Biography information for Kwasi Kwarteng
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1146578

registered interest
date	26/09/2019
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Carbon Emissions: British Overseas Territories
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if her Department will work with the UK Overseas Territories to reduce their carbon emissions as part of the UK’s (a) contribution towards the Paris Agreement and (b) Net Zero commitment.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291443
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department is consulting with UK Overseas Territories as to whether they would like to have the UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement extended to them. For those UK Overseas Territories that so choose, the Department will work with them to ensure they are ready to implement the Paris Agreement and to regularly report to the Department on that implementation.</p><p> </p><p>Under the accounting and transparency rules for the Paris Agreement agreed at COP24 in December 2018, any UK Overseas Territories included in the geographic scope of UK’s ratification of the Paris Agreement in future will also need to be included in the UK’s accounting for and regular reporting on emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.</p><p> </p><p>The UK was the first major economy in the world to legislate for a net zero target. The target is enshrined under the Climate Change Act 2008 which does not apply to UK Overseas Territories.</p> answering member constituency Spelthorne answering member printed Kwasi Kwarteng grouped question UIN 291441 question first answered 01/10/2019 15:12:15 answering member 4134 label Biography information for Kwasi Kwarteng
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145855

registered interest
date	25/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to prevent third-party universal credit fraud.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291055
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department has raised awareness of Universal Credit advance fraud via Jobcentreplus and a dedicated social media campaign, which reminds people of the importance of safeguarding their identity. The Department has also worked with social media sites to shut down pages that promote this type of fraud, with 125 pages closed to date.</p><p> </p><p>The Department remains committed to keeping all Universal Credit services and processes, including advance payments, under review, and are making improvements to address any vulnerability in the system.</p><p> </p><p>The Department now requires customers not only to prove their identity, but also attend a face to face interview at the Jobcentre before they can claim an advance. The Department remains on track with design and test activity to further reduce the risk of opportunistic advances fraud by using real time validation of key elements of the application.</p><p> </p><p>In each instance we are taking care to ensure that there is no adverse effect on our ability to provide advance payments to those who need them.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 15:33:01 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136339 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145856

registered interest
date	25/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many third parties who have allegedly scammed people into making a universal credit claim have been identified and investigated; and how many of those third parties have been referred for prosecution.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291056
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/10/2019 answer text <p>Examination of the cases currently being progressed by the Department indicates there are 107 third-party individuals that are subject to investigation. This number is subject to change as cases progress.</p><p> </p><p>At the time of submission, one 3rd party case has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service and has been successfully prosecuted. There are a number of other cases at an advanced stage of investigation.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 02/10/2019 15:21:38 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136340 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145971

registered interest
date	25/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many administrative penalties her Department has levied on individuals who have reported they have been a victim of universal credit fraud.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291086
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>The information you have requested could only be provided by manually examining a substantial number of individual cases. The Department estimates that this would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>For the sake of clarity the policy is that an Administrative Penalty is only ever considered as an alternative to a referral for a prosecution in cases where benefit fraud has been committed, and not for innocent victims who report fraud.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 16:30:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136341 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145972

registered interest
date	25/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many interviews under caution have individuals who have reported they have been a victim of universal credit fraud had a legal representative to accompany them.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291087
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>I have interpreted your question to relate to Universal Credit advances fraud.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested could only be provided by manually examining the cases. We estimate that this would incur disproportionate costs. However, all claimants are entitled to bring a legal representative and are advised of this in their invitation to interview.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 16:23:33 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136343 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145973

registered interest
date	25/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many administrative penalties her Department has levied on victims of universal credit fraud who attended interviews under caution and who were accompanied by legal representatives.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291088
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>Administrative Penalties would not be used in any case where evidence showed that a claimant was an innocent victim of Universal Credit advances fraud.</p><p /><p>Administrative Penalties are financial penalties which can be used as an alternative to prosecution in cases where benefit fraud has been committed.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 16:16:23 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136344 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145975

registered interest
date	25/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many interviews under caution have been held with victims of universal credit fraud.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	291090
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/10/2019 answer text <p>The information you requested could only be provided by manually examining a substantial number of individual cases. The Department estimates that this would incur disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 03/10/2019 15:41:59 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145570

registered interest
date	24/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the legal basis is for her Department to ask claimants who are victims of third-party universal credit fraud to attend an interview under caution at a Jobcentre rather than provide a witness statement.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	290461
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2019 answer text <p>The new process for advances and identification introduced on the 18 September 2019 mean that the level of UC advances fraud will be mitigated. Where an individual is a victim of fraud and received no money personally, no claim will be made against them. However, it is often not possible to ascertain the facts without an Interview Under Caution. The powers for an Interview Under Caution are under the Social Security Administration Act 1992, Part VI, governs this process and has been followed by successive governments of different political persuasions.</p><p> </p><p>DWP will ask, and allow the individual to have the opportunity to respond to any evidence in a voluntary Interview Under Caution.</p><p> </p><p>DWP follows the guidance laid down in the Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act 1996 and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Code C 2014) to afford the claimant all appropriate protection in law.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 08/10/2019 14:20:53 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136305 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145571

registered interest
date	24/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work of 8 July 2019, Official Report, Column 321, if she will provide details of the successful third-party universal credit fraud prosecution.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	290462
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to the prevention, detection and investigation of benefit fraud. We take this issue very seriously and will continue to use appropriate penalties to deter this fraudulent behaviour.</p><p> </p><p>Turning to the specific case you reference, the defendant was convicted at a Magistrates court on 14 February 2019 for fraudulently obtaining £4,152.86 in Universal Credit Advances.</p><p> </p><p>This prosecution identified that the suspect had hijacked the identities of close family members in order to make fraudulent applications to Universal Credit, via the online application process, enabling fraudulent payments of Universal Credit and Universal Credit Advances.</p><p> </p><p>It was established that the defendant had also impersonated a friend and changed the payment destination of his friend’s Universal Credit payments.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 15:13:01 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136329 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George