§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many members of her Department have been employed in detecting abuse of social security benefits for each of the last six years.
§ Mr. O'MalleyIt is the responsibility of all officers in my Department, particularly those employed upon payment of social security benefits, to detect cases of abuse. Inquiry into cases where abuse is suspected may be included in the responsibilities of all officers engaged on visiting duties. There are a number of officers engaged solely on investigations where more serious fraud is suspected, mostly in relation to supplementary benefit, although they do handle some contributory benefit cases which require prolonged or difficult inquiries. The number of officers thus engaged at 1st February during each of the years in question was:
1971 … … … … … 262 1972 … … … … … 267 1973 … … … … … 285 1974 … … … … … 314 1975 … … … … … 336 1976 … … … … … 362
§ Mr. Michael Brothertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of abuse of social security benefits have been reported in each of the last six years.
§ Mr. O'MalleyThe figures available are numbers of cases of fraud detected. They are:
1970 … … … … 37,150 1971 … … … … 38,700 1972 … … … … 42,650 1973 … … … … 39,800 1974 … … … … 39,800 1975 … … … … 45,000* * Estimated.