§ Ms MowlamTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the number of cases of benefit fraud discovered in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years, indicating the estimated cost of these cases. [3858]
512W
New build completions by Northern Ireland Housing Executive 1986 to 1995 New built completions 1988 1,653 1989 1,577 1990 1,324 1991 961 1992 958 1993 888 1994 878 1995 1,362
§ Ms MowlamTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the total amount spent on the (i) building and (ii) maintenance of publicly owned housing in each of the last 10 years(a) in real terms, (b) as a proportion of the housing budget and (c) as a proportion of the total budget for Northern Ireland. [3854]
§ Mr. MossResponsibility for the subject has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Alec Wylie, and I have asked him to arrange for a response to be given.
Letter from Jim Fleming to Ms Marjorie Mowlam, dated 14 November 1996:
As Mr. Wylie, Chief Executive of the Social Security Agency is absent at present, I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question on benefit fraud.You have asked for the number of cases of benefit fraud that have been discovered in the last ten years and also an indication of the estimated costs of these cases.513WThe potential cost to the Exchequer if these cases had not been detected is referred to as estimated benefit savings and details are set out on the attached table for the past nine financial years. Information is not available for 1986/87.No records have been maintained on the cost of investigating each case.I hope this explains the position for you but I would be happy to provide any further information you require.
Number of benefit fraud cases detected and the estimated benefit savings Year Number of cases of benefit fraud detected Estimated benefit savings £ million 1987–88 2,625 3.6 1988–89 2,852 3.7 1989–90 3,820 4.6 1990–91 5,897 9.46 1991–92 6,567 10.4 1992–93 6,580 10.56 1993–94 7,260 11.57 1994–95 6,990 11.61 1995–96 5,179 15.62