§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases involving, respectively, unemployment benefit and sickness benefit in 1975 and 1976 were the subject of special investigation by his Department; and in how many of the cases investigated benefits were withdrawn or reduced.
§ Mr. OrmeIn 1975 Special Investigators of the Department of Employment investigated 6,169 unemployment benefit cases and established fraud in 3,439. Department of Health and Social Security records of special investigation do not differentiate sickness benefit cases investigated from the rest. In 1975 DHSS Special Investigators cleared 28,625 cases, fraud or other irregularity being established in 13,307 of them. Figures are not yet available for 1976.
§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what investigations by his Department are being made into the allegation of Mr. Dennis Reeves, sentenced at Halifax Magistrates' Court on 4th January 1977 to six months' prison for social security frauds, that he knew lots of people were fiddling.
§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the time limit after which his Department is prohibited from prosecuting in cases of alleged benefit abuses; and how many cases have been abandoned for this reason in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
§ Mr. OrmeProceedings can be instituted within 12 months of the commission of an offence, or within three months of 567W the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the Secretary of State for Social Services to justify a prosecution comes to his knowledge. A serious case need never be closed simply because of these time limits.