§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much was lost by fraudulent claims for supplementary 529W benefit in 1977; and how much was saved through failure to claim supplementary benefit in that year.
§ Mr. OrmeNo information is available on losses incurred due to fraud in any one year but £2.17 million has been recorded as representing amounts accepted as irrecoverable during the financial year 1976–77—the latest available—following known overpayments of supplementary benefit due to fraud.
The latest information on unclaimed supplementary benefit relates to the calendar year 1976 when, as I informed my hon. Friend the member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 13th June, the amount unclaimed is estimated to have been about £250 million.—[Vol. 951, c. 451–2.]