§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will detail each of the units or sections within his Department which are checking for social security frauds; how many persons work in each of them full-time and part-time and on a whole-time equivalent basis; what the current annual salary bill is in each case; what extent of social security fraud in each case they uncovered in each of the last five years; and what savings in public expenditure ensued.
§ Dr. BoysonEach of the Department's seven reginal offices and 505 local offices employs staff who are responsible for the investigation of social security fraud. Figures are not maintained centrally in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, in 1983–84, 2,458 staff were allocated to cover those duties at an estimated salary cost of £20 million. The total number of cases where fraud was established and estimated benefit savings in each of the last four years was:
Fraud established Benefit savings £ million 1980–81 78,558 67 1981–82 73,141 96 1982–83 92,061 110 1983–84 95,690 135 Comparable figures are not available for 1979–80.