§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what estimate he has made of the numbers of people, registered as unemployed and in receipt of unemployment benefit who are supplementing their income by irregular and undocumented employment.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkEvidence shows that in 1971, out of just over 3½ million claims to unemployment benefit there were 12,447 cases of suspected fraud of which 5,980 were considered for legal352W proceedings; 3,246 of these were in respect of claiming whilst working. There is no basis upon which to form a more comprehensive judgment. A committee under the chairmanship of Sir Henry Fisher has been examining the question of wrongful claims to social security benefits, including unemployment benefit, and the measures taken to prevent and detect fraud and abuse. I understand that the committee's report is expected shortly.