Damian Hinds corrected a written answer on Universal Credit

12 December 2016 · Commons written answer · Department for Work and Pensions

Debbie Abrahams (Labour, Oldham East and Saddleworth) asked written question 56404 on 6 December 2016. Richard Harrington answered on 12 December 2016 for the Department for Work and Pensions, and Damian Hinds corrected the answer on 12 December 2016. The corrected text no longer gives the figures 446, 921. Altogether 246 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2016 to Question 55887, how many full-time equivalent members of staff his Department has employed to work on the design and implementation of universal credit in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14, (e) 2014-15 and (f) 2015-16.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
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. 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. 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. The table below breaks down the location of the victim of reported pension scams collated by Action Fraud over the last two financial years. Location of victims of reported pension scams \| ~~Financial year 2014/15~~ \| Financial year 2015/16 to date Scotland \| 27 \| 17 Rest of the UK \| ~~921~~ ~~\| 446~~	\| \| \| \| \| \| This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Original

Corrected

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.
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.
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.
The table below breaks down the location of the victim of reported pension scams collated by Action Fraud over the last two financial years.
Location of victims of reported pension scams
| ~~Financial year 2014/15~~
| Financial year 2015/16 to date
Scotland
| 27
| 17
Rest of the UK
| ~~921~~
~~| 446~~

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This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Related key figures

People on Universal Credit (Great Britain)

More on Damian Hinds and Richard Harrington.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/652776?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`86b343b6c1a2bbf64067e7a844376d715221e44f46b50bbe9431f6d3119b9d4a`