International

The parliamentary inquiry committee that is to investigate the benefits scandal is about to start. SP leader Lilian Marijnissen submitted the motion to set up this inquiry. Renske Leijten, MP for the SP, played a significant role in the revelations of recent years which caused the previous cabinet to resign. 

A parliamentary inquiry is the strongest instrument of the House of Representatives. The committee that will conduct the inquiry was installed today and can now start its work. Michiel van Nispen, SP Member of Parliament, was appointed vice-chairman. The official name of the committee is 'Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on Fraud Policy and Services'.

For years, the SP has been working with the parents who are the victims of the benefits scandal to get to the bottom of it. Again and again bits of information leaked out, but we never got the full picture from the cabinet. So it is good that the parliamentary inquiry is now being implemented. Hopefully this will finally make clear why the victims were treated so incredibly badly and we will ensure that this can never happen again.

The committee's task is to investigate how the government's anti-fraud strategy could go off the rails, causing tens of thousands of people to be unjustly accused of fraud and severely disadvantaged. 

The Committee will look in particular at the fraud policy of the past decades, the inadequate legal protection of people, the role of the House of Representatives, the use of discriminatory risk profiles and the exchange of information. The childcare benefit scandal investigation will focus on the Tax and Customs Administration, but also on the Institute for Employee Benefit Schemes (UWV) and the Information Exchange Agency. The Committee’s aim is that lessons must be learned 'so that everyone can rely on fair treatment by the government'.

A parliamentary inquiry committee needs a lot of time to get to the bottom of things. That is why the compensation of the victims of the childcare allowance scandal is not part of this investigation. The parents would have to wait far too long. It is already taking an unacceptably long time before they get their own money back and get compensation for the misery they have been put through. The SP will fight in every parliamentary debate for swift and full compensation. This unprecedented injustice must be repaired as quickly as possible.

This article is a translation of an article on www.sp.nl