14. Lieut.-Colonel Sir FREDERICK HALLasked the Minister of Labour the number of cases of alleged fraud in connection with claims for unemployment benefit submitted to the Ministry of Labour for the sanction of the Department to the institution of legal proceedings in each of the six years ended 31st December, 1930; and the number of cases in each of these years in which prosecution proceedings were sanctioned?
§ Miss BONDFIELDI will circulate a table giving the information available.
§ Miss BONDFIELDIn 1925 the number of cases reported by the local offices was 11,413 and the number of cases in which criminal proceedings were taken was 2,034. In 1930 the figures were 11,765 and 914.
Sir F. HALLCan the right hon. Lady say why the number of prosecutions has gone down by more than half during the period?
§ Mr. R. A. TAYLORIs not one of the objects of prosecution to deter people from doing wrong?
§ Miss BONDFIELDNo I cannot without going into every individual case.
Sir F. HALLDoes it not lead one to believe that the Government are not paying the attention that they should d[...] to this matter?
§ Miss BONDFIELDIt certainly does not.
§ Following is the table:
| Year. (1) | Number of cases reported by Local Offices. (2) | Number of cases in which criminal proceedings were taken. (3) | |
| 1925 | … | 11,413 | 2,034 |
| 1926 | … | 10,873 | 1,750 |
| 1927 | … | 10,121 | 1,639 |
| 1928 | … | 8,563 | 1,233 |
| 1929 | … | 9,382 | 949 |
| 1930 | … | 11,765 | 914 |
§ The figures in the second column include cases where the question of recovery of benefit arises, even though no fraud is alleged. The figure in the column for 1930 is not strictly comparable with the earlier figures as owing to a change of procedure it includes a not inconsiderable number of cases which would not have been reported in earlier years.