§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many times have the police been called to each of the local supplementary benefit offices in England and Wales for each of the last three years; and how many persons have been charged as a result at each of these offices during these years and for which offences.
§ Mr. DeanThis information is not available. Police are called in to supplementary benefit offices only to deal with a disturbance or when a person who has no fixed address is suspected of making a fraudulent claim for benefit. There have been 606 prosecutions this 297W year for this kind of offence. In 1969 there were 1,723 and in 1968 there were 1,331.