§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has any plans to reduce abuse of the social security system, and to assist in analysis of the employment situation, by putting the unemployment register on to a computer file.
§ Mr. John GrantI refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply of my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Social Services, on 16th July 1976 to the hon. Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke)—[Vol. 915. c. 294–6.]
Many claims for unemployment benefit and supplementary allowance are already processed and paid by computer methods and before long nearly all such claims will be dealt with in this way, but this does not assist in analysing the employment situation.