DWP's welfare fraud and error detection programs
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
We are writing to submit the following request under the Freedom of Information Act.
We are specifically requesting copies of the following:
1) All privacy impact assessments, data protection impact assessments, data sharing agreements, or Memoranda of Understanding of or relating to the “analytical tools to help identify, profile, monitor and escalate cases for investigation” of welfare benefits fraud and error deployed by the Analysis & Intelligence Hub as described on page 68 of DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts 2017-2018 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
2) All privacy impact assessments, data protection impact assessments, data sharing agreements, or Memoranda of Understanding of or relating to all trials involving the use of the “new external datasets to risk assess the accuracy of UC claims and reduce what claimants and agents have to prove when they make a claim” as described on page 68 of DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts 2017-2018;
3) All privacy impact assessments, data protection impact assessments, data sharing agreements, or Memoranda of Understanding of or relating to the “risk-based intervention campaigns” developed by the Risk and Intelligence Service as described on page 68 of DWP’s 2017-2018 Annual report; and
4) A list of all of the Local Authorities that are currently using Risk-Based Verification as defined in the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Circular HB/CTB S11/2011.
Per Section 10(1) of the Act, please respond no later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt of this request.
If you refuse our request in whole or in part, or redact or withhold from disclosure specific items in your response, please explain the reason for the refusal of each withheld item with reference to exemptions of the Act, as per Section 17 of the Act.
Where you have relied on a qualified exemption to withhold disclosure, please explain which exemption applies and why the public interest arguments against disclosure outweigh the public interest in disclosure.
Thank you for your time and consideration, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Human Rights Watch
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Dear Amos Toh,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 23rd
January.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
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J Roberts left an annotation ()
Treasury Minutes
Government Response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-third to the
Twenty-sixth reports from Session 2022-23
January 2023
'5. PAC conclusion: The Department’s lack of transparency over its use of data analytics risks eroding public trust in the benefit system.
5a. PAC recommendation: The Department should report annually to Parliament on its assessment of the impact of data analytics on protected groups and vulnerable claimants.
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation.'
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...