Roland,
You are correct. What is sad, or galling, depending on the viewpoint is that tax evasion is 3x as bad ie 15 billion a year (pace BBC news report tonight) but we are not hearing about increased powers to HMRC or ways to chase tax evaders or tax shaders.
Ultimately what this means is that the data protection rights of the most vulnerable those on benefits and those claiming benefits are under pressure in a way that the tax evaders are not.
In a sense the tax evaders can afford to pay their tax in a way that benefit claimants cannot avoid being on benefits.
From an organisational theory perspective, this is troubling in that errors by the organisations involved cost more than actual benefit fraud (pace BBC news report).
I think this is a charade to focus popular attention (as with the salary issue) while secondary issues (changing the relationship of individual and state) are overlooked.
I will be interested in what the Great Reform Bill holds because our data protection rights are under pressure already.
Lawrence
Lawrence W. Serewicz
Principal Information Management Officer
Room 4/10
Durham County Council
DH1 5UF
0191-372-8371
----- Original Message -----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue Aug 10 21:41:07 2010
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Benefit fraud: Cameron defends use of credit rate firms
In message
<[log in to unmask]>, at
17:26:51 on Tue, 10 Aug 2010, Lawrence Serewicz
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>
>The problem for any benefits system is that to be fair, it needs to be
>complex. If it is complex, it is open to fraud. Thus, the true
>question is to reduce the number on it and to restructure the system
>and society to move people way from welfare (benefits) to workfare or
>work. Crack that and you can reduce the absolute value of cheating
>(i.e. fewer people on benefits) but there will be cheating as a percentage
We also have to recognise that there's more than one modality for
benefit fraud. It's fashionable to carp on about malingerers, but
there's also the people who lie about their circumstances (even if
genuinely unemployed or ill) and those who sign on multiple times at
different offices.
--
Roland Perry
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
Full help Desk - please email [log in to unmask] describing your needs
To receive these emails in HTML format send the command:
SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Help protect our environment by only printing this email if absolutely necessary. The information it contains and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are only intended for the person or organisation to whom it is addressed. It may be unlawful for you to use, share or copy the information, if you are not authorised to do so. If you receive this email by mistake, please inform the person who sent it at the above address and then delete the email from your system. Durham County Council takes reasonable precautions to ensure that its emails are virus free. However, we do not accept responsibility for any losses incurred as a result of viruses we might transmit and recommend that you should use your own virus checking procedures.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
Full help Desk - please email [log in to unmask] describing your needs
To receive these emails in HTML format send the command:
SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|