§ Mr. Oakesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the fraud rate in claims for National Assistance by single women and deserted wives.
§ Mr. EnnalsIn 1965, the last full year of the National Assistance scheme, the National Assistance Board examined nearly 152,000 casepapers representing the total load of claims from deserted wives, divorced women with children and women with illegitimate children. A preliminary examination discarded 97,000 cases as not dserving further investigation. In the remaining 55,000 cases detailed investigation was completed and it was considered that evidence of fraud had been found in 11,000 of them; that is a fraud rate of 20 per cent. of suspect cases and under 7½ per cent. of the total numbers in this category of claimant. Since then there have been smaller, limited inquiries, and none of these suggests that the percentage of fraud among these claimants has increased, although the number of claimants in this category has risen substantially since 1965. Naturally, the morea particular inquiry concentrates on the most suspect cases, the higher the fraud rate is likely to be in relation to the scope of the inquiry. It must also be remembered that in this field (deserted wives and fatherless families) a case of fraud may often be accompanied or provoked by grave social and human problems and, indeed, not be readily separable from them.