§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South of 1st December 1977 that 324 local offices of his Department had been broken into since January 1976, in how many of the cases a person has been charged with the crime.
§ Mr. OrmeInvestigating robberies and preferring charges are matters for the responsible police force. However, in the case of the seven serious incidents listed in my reply on 1st December, it is known that charges have been preferred as follows:
Southend-on-sea 1 Crystal Palace 3 Clacton 1 St. Margaret's Hall 3 In the case of the incidents at the two Glasgow offices, it is known that persons are in custody but the procurator fiscal has not yet decided whether charges should be preferred.
In the remaining 317 cases of break-ins resulting in 207 incidents of petty theft, information on the police action is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
In my reply to the hon. Member on 1st December—[Vol. 940, c. 355–6.]—the date of the Southend-on-Sea incident was given as 10th January 1976. This should have been 10th October 1976.
§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much of the £506,160 stolen from different local offices of his Department in Glasgow in October 1977 has been recovered.
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§ Mr. OrmeInstruments of payment with a maximum potential value of £493,000 have been recovered uncashed to date.