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Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Department for Work and Pensions Accounts 2021-22

Status: Closed Opened: 9 Jun 2022 Closed: 24 Feb 2023 15 recommendations 16 conclusions 1 report

The Committee will question senior officials at the Department for Work and Pensions on how they managed benefits and employment support in the second year of the pandemic – including current levels of fraud and error in benefits payments - and ongoing efforts to address major delivery issues like the years of underpayment of state …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Twenty-Sixth Report - The Department for Work and Pensions’… HC 44 9 Nov 2022 31 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

5 items
1 Conclusion Twenty-Sixth Report - The Department fo… Acknowledged

On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), we took...

On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), we took evidence from the Department for Work & Pensions (the Department) on its 2021–22 Annual Report and Accounts and the level of fraud and error in the benefits it administers.1

Government response. The government agrees and says it has committed to the target implementation date and will keep the Committee up to date on the progress of this via the existing TM25 recommendation.
HM Treasury
21 Conclusion Twenty-Sixth Report - The Department fo… Acknowledged

The Department told us it had included numbers in its Annual Report and Accounts for...

The Department told us it had included numbers in its Annual Report and Accounts for the savings from its efforts to reduce fraud and error. The Department’s 2021–22 Annual Report included an estimate for the impact of its activities to reduce fraud and error of £2 billion for 2021–22, but …

Government response. The government published an estimate of £2 billion in savings from counter fraud efforts in the 2021-22 ARA and is committed to working with the NAO to ensure agreement on the framework for the 2022-23 ARA.
HM Treasury
22 Recommendation Twenty-Sixth Report - The Department fo… Acknowledged

As part of our previous examination of the Department’s 2019–20 Accounts, we recommended that the...

As part of our previous examination of the Department’s 2019–20 Accounts, we recommended that the Department should monitor and report any discrimination or bias caused by using artificial intelligence and machine learning on different claimant groups.41 In its response to our report, the Department agreed with our recommendation and told …

Government response. The government is committed to ensuring assurances and governance for data and analytics functions and is considering the best method on reporting this information to Parliament annually.
HM Treasury
23 Recommendation Twenty-Sixth Report - The Department fo… Acknowledged

We asked the Department about the degree of transparency that the public can expect to...

We asked the Department about the degree of transparency that the public can expect to have about how its data analytics and machine learning tools will work. The Department told us that this was a “challenging balance”. It cautioned that it did not want to make public details about its …

Government response. The government is committed to ensuring assurances and governance for data and analytics functions and is considering the best method on reporting this information to Parliament annually.
HM Treasury
29 Conclusion Twenty-Sixth Report - The Department fo… Acknowledged

In our January 2022 report, we warned that, given the nature of underpayments identified, there...

In our January 2022 report, we warned that, given the nature of underpayments identified, there was a risk that similar, unidentified errors existed in the State Pension caseload.60 In 2021–22 the Department identified several new groups of pensioners potentially affected by underpayment, the most significant relating to Home Responsibilities Protection …

Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation to work with HMRC to evaluate the extent of the HRP underpayment and provide a timetable for completion. Investigation is underway, but estimates of affected people and costs are not yet available.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
20 Jul 2022 Bozena Hillyer · Department for Work and Pensions, Elizabeth Fairburn · Department for Work & Pensions, Neil Couling CBE · Department of Work and Pensions, Peter Schofield · Department for Work and Pensions View ↗