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654519

registered interest
date	07/12/2016
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	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2016 to Question 55219, for what reason he has not made an assessment of trends in the incidence of pension fraud in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK since the introduction of the pension freedoms announced in the Budget 2014.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh South
tabling member printed	Ian Murray
uin	56585
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/12/2016 answer text <p>Data on reports of pension scams is collected via Action Fraud. However, the government, working with the City of London Police and other partners as part of Project Bloom, is aware that many scams in the UK, and the true extent of associated losses, go un-reported. The true extent of losses may also only become apparent some time after the initial report and increases in fraud reports could be due to a number of factors, for example increased industry reporting or rising awareness amongst the public due to high profile information campaigns.</p><p> </p><p>The Government takes the issue of pension scams very seriously, which is why, on 5 December 2016 we launched a public consultation on a package of measures aimed at tackling pension scams. This included a proposed definition of pension fraud to allow better monitoring and data collection on pension scams.</p><p> </p><p>The Government will continue to work closely with the City of London Police and other Project Bloom partners to help local forces and other agencies raise awareness on pension scams and encourage more people to report scamming activity and losses.</p><p> </p><p>The table below breaks down the location of the victim of reported pension scams collated by Action Fraud over the last two financial years.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Location of victims of reported pension scams</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Financial year 2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Financial year 2015/16 to date </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Scotland</p></td><td><p>27</p></td><td><p>17</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rest of the UK</p></td><td><p>921</p></td><td><p>446</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Watford answering member printed Richard Harrington question first answered 12/12/2016 15:40:43 answering member 4068 label Biography information for Lord Harrington of Watford
tabling member	3966 label Biography information for Ian Murray

647093

registered interest
date	28/11/2016
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	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the incidence of pension fraud in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK since the introduction of the pension freedoms announced in the Budget 2014.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh South
tabling member printed	Ian Murray
uin	55219
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/12/2016 answer text <p>The government takes the threat of pension scams very seriously, and is committed to protecting people by helping them to avoid putting their money into scams and by pursuing fraudsters wherever possible.</p><p>It is for this reason that the Government established Project Bloom, a multi-department, multi-agency group of officials to help co-ordinate action to tackle scams, monitor trends and share intelligence on emerging threats. Members include the National Crime Agency, police forces, Pension Wise, regulators and key Government departments.</p><p>However, the government recognises that more needs to be done. We have heard the concerns raised that the pension freedoms may make people more vulnerable to scams involving their pension savings and that is why we have taken positive action and announced, at autumn statement, that we will consult on a package of measures aimed at tackling 3 different areas of pensions scams:</p><ul><li>a ban on cold calling in relation to pensions to help stop fraudsters contacting individuals;<br></li><li>limiting the statutory right to transfer to some occupational pension schemes, and <br></li><li>making it harder for fraudsters to open small pension schemes</li></ul><p>The intention is that the consultation will be launched before Christmas; and next steps will be announced at Budget 2017</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Watford answering member printed Richard Harrington question first answered 01/12/2016 15:35:24 answering member 4068 label Biography information for Lord Harrington of Watford
tabling member	3966 label Biography information for Ian Murray

600790

registered interest
date	12/10/2016
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	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Pensions Ombudsman on how that body investigates instances of suspected fraudulent documents being received from pension trustees.
tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
uin	48381
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/10/2016 answer text <p>The Pensions Ombudsman is an independent statutory Commissioner and the conduct of his investigations is solely a matter for him. He has advised the Department that instances of suspected fraudulent documents would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The Pensions Ombudsman’s general approach would be to look for evidence to support a claim that a document is fraudulent and would consider holding an oral hearing to assist him in this regard.</p> answering member constituency Watford answering member printed Richard Harrington question first answered 17/10/2016 13:30:25 answering member 4068 label Biography information for Lord Harrington of Watford
tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams

600791

registered interest
date	12/10/2016
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	Pensions: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of fraudulent documents received by the Pensions Ombudsman in each year since 2010-11.
tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
uin	48380
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/10/2016 answer text <p>In view of the Pensions Ombudsman’s independent status, information about the documents he receives is held by him alone. The Pensions Ombudsman has advised that the information requested is unavailable because he does not collect data on the number of suspected fraudulent documents received by his office.</p> answering member constituency Watford answering member printed Richard Harrington question first answered 17/10/2016 13:36:48 answering member 4068 label Biography information for Lord Harrington of Watford
tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams

598125

registered interest
date	10/10/2016
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	Pensions: Fraud
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people in the UK were victims of pension scams in (1) 2014, (2) 2015, and (3) 2016 to date.
tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
uin	HL2154
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2016 answer text <p>The Government takes the threat posed by scams very seriously and recognises that these can be complex and multifaceted, often spanning departmental and agency boundaries. It is for this reason that the Government established Project Bloom, a multi-department, multi-agency group of officials to help co-ordinate action to tackle scams, monitor trends and share intelligence on emerging threats. Members include the National Crime Agency, police forces, Pension Wise, regulators and key Government departments.</p><p>Those scams which are reported, including Pension Liberation reports, are collected and collated by the National Fraud Reporting Centre (Action Fraud), within the City of London Police, which was established in 2013. However, the true extent of pension scams in the UK is unknown because many go un-reported.</p><p>The data on the number of reported scams will include those which have been reported over the past three years by individuals, pension providers, the Pensions Regulator or other agencies but, on which, Action Fraud has not yet received any feedback from the investigating police force, for example, a report on whether suspects have been charged or summonsed. This delay is due to the complexity of pension fraud investigations which can take several years to investigate. Action Fraud would not know the outcome until the end of the court case. Frequently, numerous fraud reports will relate to a single suspect.</p><p>The data on the number of reported scams also includes reports where organisations have taken action to prevent that fraud. Outcome feedback would only be received in respect of these reports if the Police became involved.</p><p>We expect the number of charges and summons to increase as outcome feedback from investigating police forces for pre 2014 reports is received and collated. The available data is provided in the table below:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>No. of Action Fraud Reports </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Suspect charged / summonsed</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>911</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>807</p></td><td><p>6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016 (to date)</p></td><td><p>290</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total: </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2,008</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>7</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud grouped question UIN HL2155 question first answered 24/10/2016 13:33:31 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

598126

registered interest
date	10/10/2016
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	Pensions: Fraud
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many pension scams were (1) reported, and (2) stopped by official action, in each year from 2010 to 2016.
tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
uin	HL2155
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2016 answer text <p>The Government takes the threat posed by scams very seriously and recognises that these can be complex and multifaceted, often spanning departmental and agency boundaries. It is for this reason that the Government established Project Bloom, a multi-department, multi-agency group of officials to help co-ordinate action to tackle scams, monitor trends and share intelligence on emerging threats. Members include the National Crime Agency, police forces, Pension Wise, regulators and key Government departments.</p><p>Those scams which are reported, including Pension Liberation reports, are collected and collated by the National Fraud Reporting Centre (Action Fraud), within the City of London Police, which was established in 2013. However, the true extent of pension scams in the UK is unknown because many go un-reported.</p><p>The data on the number of reported scams will include those which have been reported over the past three years by individuals, pension providers, the Pensions Regulator or other agencies but, on which, Action Fraud has not yet received any feedback from the investigating police force, for example, a report on whether suspects have been charged or summonsed. This delay is due to the complexity of pension fraud investigations which can take several years to investigate. Action Fraud would not know the outcome until the end of the court case. Frequently, numerous fraud reports will relate to a single suspect.</p><p>The data on the number of reported scams also includes reports where organisations have taken action to prevent that fraud. Outcome feedback would only be received in respect of these reports if the Police became involved.</p><p>We expect the number of charges and summons to increase as outcome feedback from investigating police forces for pre 2014 reports is received and collated. The available data is provided in the table below:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>No. of Action Fraud Reports </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Suspect charged / summonsed</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>911</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>807</p></td><td><p>6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016 (to date)</p></td><td><p>290</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total: </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2,008</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>7</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud grouped question UIN HL2154 question first answered 24/10/2016 13:33:31 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

582651

registered interest
date	13/09/2016
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	Pensions: Fraud
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of pension scams in the UK that (1) originate overseas, and (2) are initiated by UK-based firms.
tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
uin	HL1834
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2016 answer text <p>The Government has not made an estimate of the geographic origin of pension scams. Scams are often complex in nature and those reported to Action Fraud as taking place in the UK may have originated elsewhere.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 27/09/2016 14:05:17 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann