§ Mr. David Steelasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the size of (a) supplementary benefit, and (b) national insurance abuse for each year since 1948; and the number of resulting prosecutions for each benefit for each of these years.
§ Mr. DeanSupplementary benefit: the figures from the first full year of this benefit (1967) are:
Year Fraudulent Claims Detected Prosecutions 1967 7,500* 2,219 1968 10,550* 3,763 1969 12,400* 4,398 1970 12,876 3,904 1971 12,806 4,767 1972 14,426 5,891 * Estimated. National insurance benefits including FAM: complete figures are available only from 1960:
Year Fraudulent Claims Detected Prosecutions 1960 12,308 1,312 1961 10,741 1,287 1962 13,809 1,544 1963 15,947 1,713 1964 16,599 1,661 1965 14,530 1,332 1966 15,115 1,343 1967 19,908 1,264 1968 19,588 1,745 1969 19,492 1,924 1970 20,533 2,217 1971 22,439 2,910 1972 23,936 3,373 All the figures above concern wrongful claims to benefits. They do not include frauds based on postal drafts or girocheques.