§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many officials were dealing with cohabitation allegations as part of their normal fraud detection duties between 1974 and 1976.
§ Mr. OrmeAny official concerned with the investigation of suspected fraud might have been required to investigate an allegation of undisclosed cohabitation as part of his duties. Most investigations were, however, carried out by special investigators whose numbers averaged 327 in 1974 and 375 in 1976.
§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many widows for the years 1974, 1975 and 1976 were prosecuted for fraudulently obtaining benefit, on grounds of cohabitation; how many of these were fined, conditionally discharged, found not guilty, put on probation and jailed, respectively; and how many of these appealed against the court's decision.
§ Mr. OrmeIn these three years the number of widows who were prosecuted for fraudulently obtaining contributory benefit on grounds of undisclosed cohabitation were 11, 13 and 14 respectively. In the same years the number of women prosecuted for fraudulently obtaining supplementary benefits on grounds of cohabitation were 443, 564 and 561 respectively: it is probable that a few of these were widows, but this information, along with the rest requested by my hon. Friend is not available.