§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list all robberies from his Department's offices in the last two years, giving the amount stolen in each case, including the value of uncashed order books, &c., and also listing items stolen upon which it is impossible to put a precise value.
§ Mr. OrmeSince 1st January 1976, local offices have been broken into on 324 occasions.
In 110 cases nothing was stolen, and in 207 petty theft only was involved. The remaining seven cases were serious and 355W involved instruments of payment. These were as follows:
Date Local Office Items stolen Potential value (i.e. if cashed to maximum value) £ 8th January 1976 … Chelsea … … … 423 girocheques … … 11,110 10th January 1976 … Southend-on-Sea … … 256 mutilated order books. … 64,100 28th November 1976 … Crystal Palace … … 1,200 order books … … 624,000 14th March 1977 … Clacton … … … 418 girocheques … … 15,620 13th June 1977 … St. Margarets Hall … 44 order books … … 6,500 5th October 1977 … Glasgow (Partick) … 4,053 girocheques … … 298,160 17th October 1977 … Glasgow (Dalmarnock) … 400 order books … … 208,000 1,227,490 Instruments of payment to a potential value of £890,500 have been recovered, and to a value of £14,200 have been detected as cashed.