§ Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many welfare Giro cheques went missing in the latest 12 months for which figures are available and were replaced; how many of those missing were found to have been subsequently cashed; and how many prosecutions for fraud there were as a result.
§ Mr. OrmeDuring 1977 about 72,000 of the girocheques issued in respect of all social security benefits and which were reported as lost or not received were replaced; of these, some 50,500 were subsequently found to have been cashed.
Information about the number of prosecutions directly arising from these cases is not available but, in the 12 months ending 21st February 1978, some 1,200 cases involving the fraudulent encashment of girocheques were authorised for proceedings by my Department and the Department of Employment and over 4,700 cases were prosecuted by the police and Post Office.