Greg Mulholland-Working Hard For Leeds North WestCOST OF BENEFIT FRAUD BUREAUCRACY SOARS, PERFORMANCE PLUMMETS: MULHOLLAND
November 14, 2005 12:00 AM
New figures obtained by Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West and member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, show that the cost of running the Benefit Fraud Hotline shot up by 25% last year, even though they answered fewer calls, missed nearly 80,000, and secured convictions from less than 1% of the tip offs.
Commenting, Greg Mulholland, who two weeks ago was one of the first MPs to learn of Blunkett's resignation, said:
"The new Secretary of State must explain why performance is plummeting when costs are soaring.
"John Hutton must not follow the example of his predecessor, David Blunkett who covered up the Department's poor performance by changing the way they define fraud in the statistics.
"We need to see real improvements in protecting taxpayers money from fraud, we don't need to see more spent on spin."
"Honest families in my constituency continue to be let down by a system which continues to fail to protect the most vulnerable and deserving."
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