§ Mr. Hordernasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of fraud in claiming benefits were investigated by his Department; and how many were found to be fraudulent in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. OrmeRecords are not maintained of the total number of cases in which officials of my Department undertake inquiries because of suspicion of fraud. Those found by the courts to be fraudulent—including cases brought by the Department of Employment and the police—in each of the last three years for which we have records numbered 13,473 in 1974, 15,000 in 1975 and 18,711 in 1976.